Former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has broken silence over his decision to step down as Pakistan’s Test head coach, just days ahead of the upcoming series against South Africa.

Gillespie launched a scathing attack on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), claiming that he was never wanted as the coach.

The 49-year-old took over the reins of the Pakistan Test team in April 2024. His stint began with a 2-0 home Test series loss to Bangladesh but the Shan Masood-led side made a remarkable turnaround against England, securing a 2-1 series victory after losing the first Test in Multan.

Speaking to ABC Sport, Gillespie cited a lack of communication with the PCB and the sacking of high-performance coach Tim Nielsen as the reasons for his resignation.

"There were certainly challenges. I went into the job eyes wide open, I want to make that really clear. I knew that, you know, Pakistan had cycled through a number of coaches in a pretty short space of time," Gillespie said.

"The straw that broke the camel's back, I suppose, was, as a head coach, you like to have clear communication with your employer. I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach," he added.

What annoyed Gillespie the most was that both him and Nielsen received positive feedback from the PCB, and felt that they were moving in the right direction. However, the board decided on its own not to have the high-performance coach in their ranks.

"Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required, and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that, and I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was probably the moment where I thought, 'Well, I'm not really sure if they actually really want me to do this job or not'," said Gillespie.

"I developed a really close relationship with the test captain, Shan Masood, and felt we were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well. All the feedback that I'd got or the feedback the PCB got was just how effective, you know, Tim had been in his role as well, and the players were getting a lot out of him," he further remarked.

Recently, former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten also relinquished Pakistan's white-ball coach job. Gillespie served as the interim white-ball coach during the tour of Australia last month.

"I felt I was basically hitting catches, and that was about it on the morning of a game," Gillespie said.

"You want to be able to have clear communication with all stakeholders, with selectors, for instance, knowing what the team is as head coach well before the game, or before at least the day before the game," he added.