Gillespie: I was 'completely and utterly blindsided' by the PCB – T20 IPL 2024

Jason Gillespie, the former Australia cricketer who recently quit as Pakistan’s head coach in Test cricket, said on Monday that he stepped down after being “completely and utterly blindsided” by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Gillespie, whose contract was set to expire in 2026, resigned last week and he expressed his frustration over the lack of communication, which led him to feel that the Pakistan Cricket Board no longer wanted him in the role.

Jason Gillespie quits as Pakistan red-ball coach
Kirsten resigns as Pakistan’s white-ball coach
Gillespie frustrated by lack of clear communication in role as Pakistan coach

“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.

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

As ESPNcricinfo originally reported, the PCB first did not review the contract of Tim Nielsen, who was brought in on the recommendation of the Gillespie, as the high performance coach of the team. This had prompted Gillespie to have doubts about his own future.

“Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that,” Gillespie said. “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 want me to do this job or not.'”

Adding to Gillespie’s frustration was the fact that the feedback given to him regarding Nielsen and the team’s performance was positive.

“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,” he said. “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.”

Gillespie guided Pakistan to a 2-1 win against England in October, after losing the first match by an innings and 47 runs. However after the loss in the first Test, he was informed that a new selection panel would be introduced, and he would not be a part of it.

He felt his role as head coach was diminished and even suggested that he often didn’t know the team lineup until the day before a match. This lack of clarity and communication only deepened his frustration with the PCB’s handling of his position.

“I felt I was basically hitting catches and that was about it on the morning of a game,” he 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.

Aaqib Javed is the interim Test coach for Pakistan for the series in South Africa. He is also the interim coach of both white-ball sides after Gary Kirsten resigned in October.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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