PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has addressed the accusations made by former Pakistan white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten, who recently cited “interference” and a toxic work culture as reasons behind his premature exit in 2024.
The South African legend had stepped down as head coach of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I teams just six months after getting appointed to the role in April 2024.
Speaking to talkSPORT Cricket, Kirsten opened up on dealing with significant interference during his tenure as Pakistan coach, adding that the "constant noise from the outside" made it tough for him to continue.
“The thing that surprised me more than anything was the level of interference. I don’t think I have ever seen it at that level before. It is quite difficult for a coach to come and formulate a way that you can work with the players when there is just this constant noise from the outside,” Kirsten said.
During a press conference in Lahore on Sunday (March 22), Naqvi responded to the claims, stating that he personally had "not many interactions" with Kirsten during his six-month tenure.
“I didn’t have many interactions with Gary Kirsten, so it would be better if those people who were co-ordinating things with him and involved regularly with him responded in detail to his allegations,” Naqvi told reporters.
Gary Kirsten also slammed the scapegoating culture in Pakistan cricket, where coaches are treated as "lowest-hanging fruit" and are the first to be blamed when the team performs poorly.
"As a coach, you are the lowest hanging fruit when the team isn't going well, so let us get rid of the coach or let us put a restriction on the coach because that is the easiest thing to do when the teams are performing and that is kind of counterproductive in my view. Then why recruit the coach?"
Kirsten, however, declared that he "enjoyed" working with Pakistani players despite the language barrier.
"I actually really enjoyed working with the players. I think professional cricketers across the board in any culture are great people. We are cricket people. We love working together. We talk the same thing, even though there was a language barrier. When you're talking cricket, you're kind of understanding what we're saying to each other. So I thoroughly enjoyed working with the players," Kirsten remarked.
