Gary Kirsten opened up on the reason behind his stepping down as the Pakistan coach and hinted that he is open to a return if there is no external interference. The former India coach took over the role with Pakistan in April 2024, along with Jason Gillespie taking on a similar spot with the Test team.
However, six months into his job, Kirsten put in his resignation amidst a power rift between him and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Kirsten and Gillespie were also removed from the new selection panel setup by the board and he left the job before the teams for the Australia and Zimbabwe tours were announced.
Speaking to Wisden, Kirsten recalled the tumultuous few months and realised he wasn’t going to have a lot of influence after being taken off the selection panel.
“It was a tumultuous few months. I realised quite quickly I wasn’t going to have much of an influence. Once I was taken off selection and asked to take a team and not be able to shape the team, it became very difficult as a coach then to have any sort of positive influence on the group,” Kirsten said.
Kirsten on a potential return
Kirsten went on to say that he is open to a return to Pakistan and coaching the team but under the right circumstances. The former South African batter said that the external influential noise shouldn’t be present.
“If I got invited back to Pakistan tomorrow, I would go, but I would want to go for the players, and I would want to go under the right circumstances,” Kirsten said.
“Cricket teams need to be run by cricket people. When that’s not happening and when there’s a lot of noise from the outside that’s very influential noise, it’s very difficult for leaders within the team to walk a journey that you feel like you need to walk in order to take this team to where it needs to go.
“I’m too old now to be dealing with other agendas, I just want to coach a cricket team, work with the players – I love the Pakistan players, they’re great guys. I had a very short period of time with them and I feel for them. More than any other team in the world, they feel the pressure of performance massively, when they lose it’s hectic for them and they feel that.
“But they’re professional cricketers and I’m a professional cricket coach. When we get into that environment, there are generally certain things you do to help a team be the best that they can be, and when there’s no interference, you go down the road, and if it’s a talented group of guys, you’re generally going to have success.”
Mike Hesson has taken over as the new coach of the white-ball sides.
