Former World Cup-Winning Coach Gary Kirsten Appointed as Pakistan White-Ball Coach

Pakistan Cricket Board appointed Gary Kirsten as their head coach for ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals while former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie will take over the role in Test cricket.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on April 28 appointed World Cup-winning Gary Kirsten as their head coach for ODIs and T20Is, while former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie will take over that role in Test cricket. Along with them, former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was appointed as the assistant coach of the team across the formats.

"The appointment of (Gary) Kirsten and (Jason) Gillispie who are high-profile coaches shows how much value is given to the Pakistan cricket team and how much potential foreign coaches see in our players," PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi said during a media conference.

Kirsten is expected to take over from Pakistan's tour of England from May 22 which will feature four T20Is and from there the team will travel for the T20 World Cup in June. Pakistan have been on the search for a full-time head coach since the end of the 50-over World Cup last year where they failed to enter the knockout stages.

After their shambolic effort in the marquee event held in India, Pakistan had sacked the entire set of coaching staff – head coach Grant Bradburn, team director Mickey Arthur, bowling coach Morne Morkel and batting coach Andrew Puttick.

Premier batter Babar Azam was also removed from captaincy post the ICC showpiece with Pakistan opting to appoint pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi as their white-ball leader and Shan Masood doing that duty in Tests. Along with that, Pakistan had also turned to former cricket Muhammad Hafeez for the guiding role during their tour to Australia.

But Hafeez lost the job after Pakistan lost 0-3 in the Test series and 1-4 in the T20Is. While Masood was retained as captain, Afridi was relieved from leadership and Babar was reinstated in the last week of March. However, Pakistan could not find a full-time head coach despite them approaching some top names such Matthew Hayden and Shane Watson.

Eventually, they have been zeroed in on Kirsten, who had led India to World Cup triumph in 2011, and Gillespie, who comes with bagful of coaching experience with English county side Sussex. Naqvi explained the rationale behind choosing foreign names for coaching role.

"We have maintained a balance for this. There's a lot of talent in our country. But we're not that far ahead in medical sciences which is why there are some fitness issues in our team. So, closing our options to get the best options from outside our country may not get us the best results for us," said Naqvi.