New Delhi: The removal of Jason Gillespie as white ball coach by the Pakistan Cricket Board has come under ridicule by Pakistani cricket fans, who have witnessed a revolving door of coaches for the national team.
“Jason Gillespie won test series at home vs England. Gillespie helped us win ODI series vs Australia in Australia after 22 years. His reward: Being removed from his job for Aquib Javed who has never been a head coach for any international team. @TheRealPCB is a complete circus,” said a cricket fan from Karachi on X.
On 17 November, ESPNcricinfo revealed that Aaqib Javed would replace Gillespie as head coach, across all formats.
The PCB refuted the story but chose their words carefully.
“As announced previously, Jason Gillespie will continue to coach the Pakistan side for the two red-ball matches against South Africa,” said the PCB in its statement, hinting that the white-ball coaching role may be up for grabs.
A fan on X said, “It would have been a foolish decision if Jason Gillespie was to be removed from the red ball coaching. But it is true that he was just an acting head coach in white ball formats and now PCB will announce a new head coach and most likely it will be Aqib Javed.”
Also read: Pakistan ‘can’t digest one good week in cricket’; coach Gary Kirsten resigning a ‘humiliation’
A temporary coach
Yesterday, the PCB finally announced Aqib Javed as the interim head coach of the team until the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. Javed would also continue to serve as a senior member of the National Selection Committee.
The timing of this announcement was bizarre, considering Gillespie was in Australia coaching the Pakistani team for its third T20 match. Australia won the series 3-0.
Sawera Pasha, a Pakistani sports journalist, posted a YouTube video reacting to the news along with her husband, Ali.
“I think I should speak to Netflix about making a Kapil Sharma-type show on the Pakistani comedy circus. There are certain situations that, because ‘Pakistan’ is mentioned in the board’s name, we have to stand up for them, but I swear our heart doesn’t want to,” said Ali.
He goes on to say that PCB has seen six coaches in the last 12 months. “Are they running cricket or just having fun,” said a clearly frustrated Ali.
A user on YouTube agreed with the couple’s stance in their video. and said, “No good foreign coach will apply for a PCB role for the next 10 years! What if the team doesn’t deliver under Aaqib the coach? Who will PCB bring in next?”
Faizan Lakhani, a Pakistani sports journalist, cleared up some of the social media confusion. “Gillespie was given the task only for the Australia series following the last-minute resignation by Kirsten. This isn’t true that Gillespie was sacked. It was an interim arrangement for one series as he was available in Australia. He is still the red ball coach,” Lakhani told ThePrint.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)