Pakistan cricket and controversy go hand in hand. It has been in the news for the last few days due to Gary Kirsten’s premature exit as white-ball head coach.
The former South African cricketer stepped down as head coach of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I teams just six months after getting appointed to the role.
Kirsten reportedly had disagreements with the PCB since the board decided to strip coaches of selection powers, with that authority exclusively the preserve of a selection panel — comprising Aleem Dar, Aaqib Javed, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Hassan Cheema.
Meanwhile, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday (October 30) alleged that Kirsten ended his tenure as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach as he made "some breaches" of his contract with the board.
“He (Kirsten) broke his contract with the PCB and made some breaches. He ended the contract with us,” Naqvi told the media during an informal discussion.
He refrained from making any more comments on the matter. While the PCB had not mentioned the reason for Kirsten's sudden resignation, sources have confirmed that it was because he was not involved when the board announced the squads for the Australia and Zimbabwe tours and the new captain of the white ball format on Sunday (October 27).
On the contrary, PCB sources claimed that Kirsten had breached some clauses of his contract, notably by not spending enough time in Pakistan and insisting on having a full foreign coaching support staff.
Naqvi revealed the PCB had started the process of finding a new head coach of the white ball team and he already had discussions with 4-5 candidates.
“We will have a new white ball head coach by the end of this month because Jason Gillispie has only agreed to manage the team in Australia for the white ball matches on an interim basis. He is more focussed on his role as red ball head coach," Naqvi said. "The team will have a new white ball coach for the Zimbabwe tour."
Insiders say that Aaqib Javed, a member of the senior committee who Naqvi wanted to take over as Kirsten's replacement, is more interested in working on development of players and grooming of young talent at the National Cricket Academy.
On a separate note, the PCB chief said that the selectors had authority to decide on whether to pick senior opener Fakhar Zaman or not.
The southpaw did not feature in the Pakistan white-ball squads for Australia and Zimbabwe tours as he is facing an inquiry from the PCB for tweeting in support of Babar Azam, who was dropped from the last two matches of the recently held home Test series against England.
“The issue of the show cause notice will be handled by a special committee of the board while the selectors have authority over selection matters.”
Naqvi asserted he never interfered in selection matters nor had ever pushed for the selection of any particular player. “I don't interfere in the selectors and coaches work.”
(With PTI Inputs)
