Aaqib, Saqlain in fray to replace Kirsten for Pakistan white ball coach’s job
Current senior selector Aaqib Javed and former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq are in fray to replace Gary Kirsten as Pakistan’s new white ball coach after the former Proteas batter stepped down due to his differences with country’s cricket board.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Monday, officially confirmed that Kirsten had resigned and as an interim arrangement it has asked the red ball coach, Jason Gillispie to manage the team for the white ball series in Australia from November 4. But Gillespie has intimated that he would look at it as a one-off arrangement.
“The problem is both Kirsten and Gillispie were not happy with their sudden demotion in powers with the selectors given powers to call all the shots,” one source said.
He said since Gillispie was in the middle of the England series he reluctantly accepted the changes but has publicly made it clear he is no happy at not being involved in the selection process.
“The situation now is that PCB has to appoint a new white ball coach given the number of white ball commitments of the national team coming up and leading up to the Champions Trophy early next year,” the source said.
“One option is to let assistant coach Azhar Mahmood continue as interim head coach but Aaqib or Saqlain could also land the job.”
Saqlain has remained head coach of the Pakistan team before but was replaced by Mickey Arthur early last year when Najam Sethi was in power in the board.
The source did say they are some other candidates under consideration and the board chairman, Mohsin Naqvi would soon have talks with shortlisted candidates.
PCB has made no official comment on why Kirsten resigned nor has the former South African player said anything but board insiders say the dispute arose over several issues between Kirsten and PCB.
“Look we had high hopes from Kirsten when we entered into a two-year contract with him. The idea was he could help PCB to revolutionise the white ball team,” one source aware of the happenings said.
He said PCB got the feeling that Kirsten never seemed fully committed to his job.
“He did not have a single camp in Pakistan for any of the white ball teams. He was not present at the white ball camps of the Shaheens throughout the summer. And it all culminated with him missing the majority of the Champions Cup.”
Another complaint against Kirsten is that although his contract stated clearly he would just take 30 day-vacation in a year, he didn’t even spend 30 days in Pakistan after joining.
PCB was also put off with Kirsten’s insistence on having more foreign coaches on his team and the dispute between them blew up once the board decided to strip the coaches of selection powers.
PCB had also sidelined and pushed foreign coaches, Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn, etc. to resign after last year’s World Cup.
