New Delhi: The postmortem of Pakistan’s humiliating exit from the ongoing Champions Trophy is just refusing to end. The talk around the cricket team’s performance hit a new low when former Pakistan coach and Australian bowler Jason Gillespie labelled the country’s current head coach Aaqib Javed ‘a clown’.
Gillespie’s remark came after Javed blamed repeated management changes as one of the many reasons behind the team’s poor performance.
“We have changed nearly 16 coaches and 26 selectors in the last two years or so. You put that formula on any team in the world, I think they will also be in the same situation. Until you get consistency right from the top down to the bottom, from the chairman down, then your team will not progress,” Javed said in a press conference on Wednesday.
The irony was not lost on former coaches. Soon after, Gillespie in an Instagram Story wrote: “This is hilarious. Aaqib was clearly undermining Gary and I behind the scenes campaigning to be the coach in all formats. He is a clown.”
SHOCKING! 😯 Jason Gillespie has accused Aqib Javed for doing conspiracy against him and Gary. #CT25 pic.twitter.com/MpNBgCB67N
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) March 5, 2025
Even Pakistanis agree with Gillespie. “The only pleasant memory I have about Aaqib Javed is knocking over Mark Greatbatch in the 1992 WC SF. Dude’s completely bonkers otherwise,” wrote a Reddit user on r/Cricket.
The ‘Aaqib ball’ strategy
Since the 2023 ODI World Cup, the Pakistan team has undergone three coaching changes. Mickey Arthur was initially replaced by Mohammad Hafeez, who was dismissed before the T20 World Cup. Following this, Pakistan appointed Gary Kirsten, the 2011 World Cup-winning coach, along with Jason Gillespie.
In October 2024, Aaqib Javed was also named part of Pakistan Cricket Board’s selection committee. Following Kirsten’s resignation on 28 October, Javed was appointed as the interim head coach of Pakistan’s men’s cricket team for limited-overs formats. He officially took over on 18 November 2024, and led the team during their tours of Australia and Zimbabwe.
On 12 December 2024, just 46 days after Kirsten’s resignation, Jason Gillespie, head coach of the red-ball format, also stepped down. As a result, Javed assumed the role of interim head coach for Pakistan’s men’s cricket team across all formats. Gillespie suggested that Javed was responsible for the removal of both himself and Kirsten as coaches.
Journalist Danyal Rasool noted this in a 2024 post on ESPNcricinfo, referring to ‘Aaqib-ball’.
“Pakistan have performed a weird interpretive dance, insisting it’s a team game in a series that has been all about individuals. The individuals, like Masood and Gillespie, who had their wings clipped, and those, like Aaqib, who has become cricket director, selector and coach in all but name,” Rasool wrote.
Also read: Pakistanis are bitter about hybrid Champions Trophy. They hope Kohli will speak up someday
Trademark of Pakistan cricket
Pakistanis are rallying behind Gillespie. They want Pakistan cricket to be saved from “so-called legends”.
No one is even remotely shocked at Gillespie’s revelation. “This has become a trademark of 1992 World Cup winners (except @Javed__Miandad) plus Saqlain, Inzimam, Wahab etc,” Muntazir Mehdi wrote on X.
Former cricketers weighed in too.
“This incident now reminds me what Misbah did against @Mickeyarthurcr1 some years back and got all the powers,” former cricketer and coach Faisal Iqbal noted.
Former Pakistan captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq had labelled the 2023 rehiring of Mickey Arthur by the PCB as “a slap on Pakistan cricket”.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)