Gary Kirsten Steps Down As Pakistan White-Ball Coach After Rift With PCB - Report

Gary Kirsten has stepped down as Pakistan's white-ball coach, as per a report in EspnCricinfo. Kirsten was handed a two-year contract by the PCB, but the stint barely lasted six months. An official statement regarding the development will be out soon. There has been a growing rift between the PCB and the coaches following the board's decision to strip them of selection powers. As per the report, Kirsten was keen to have his say in Pakistan's squad for the Australia and Zimbabwe tours, and the appointment of Rizwan as the new white-ball captain but PCB paid no heed, leaving Kirsten disappointed. Kirsten felt sidelined with the development and decided to step down as coach. For the unversed, the PCB made some bold moves following a defeat to England in the first Test. They dropped Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah from the squad for the following two Tests. They also handed all the selection powers to the new selection committee comprising Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Hassan Cheema.Kirsten will depart as Pakistan's white ball coach without coaching Pakistan in a single ODI. The T20 World Cup 2024 was his first assignment where Pakistan suffered an embarrassing group stage exit. It is not yet clear who will replace Kirsten for the upcoming tours of Australia and Zimbabwe.It will be interesting to see if Test coach Jason Gillespie also follows Kirsten in resigning as Pakistan coach. Gillespie too wasn't pleased with the developments and took a dig at PCB, calling himself a match-day strategist. "The PCB came out and made some changes after that Test match and it was decided that a new selection panel would come in and they would be making the decisions," Gillespie said. "I was not involved in the decision-making. I am just a coach on match day strategy. So, I keep out of things now and just focus on players and getting them ready for cricket."