Jason Gillespie has quit as Pakistan’s head coach. This has been officially confirmed after the confusion that has been on for the last few days, which also includes the incident of Gillespie refusing to go to South Africa during this period.
Gillespie was supposed to leave for South Africa from Adelaide at 6 am on Friday. He had however told PCB that he didn’t want to fly. Aaqib Javed will take over the post of interim coach in place of Gillespie. At present, he is the head coach of Pakistan’s white ball team.
Jason Gillespie’s news dismissed by PCB
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Many sources reported last month that Gillespie’s time as head coach is about to end but then PCB dismissed that news and said that Gillespie will remain the head coach of Pakistan for the two Test matches against South Africa. However, after this, the relationship between the board and the coach kept deteriorating and Gillespie will no longer coach a single Test for Pakistan.
Gillespie is furious over the contract not being extended for Tim Nielsen as the Red Ball high-performance coach. Gillespie was not even consulted before the decision not to extend Nielsen’s contract. Nielsen himself had told ESPNcricinfo that he was completely available for the South Africa tour and the home series against the West Indies but the PCB had informed him that his services were no longer required.
Gillespie was with the PCB in April but for the last few months, the relationship between the board and Gillespie has not been good. In October, Gillespie was also taken out from the selection committee of the Test team, which made Gillespie angry because he started feeling that he was nothing more than a matchday analyst and he was not included just for this.
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Jason Gillespie’s concern about Nielson’s contract
It is believed that he was consulted very little in the selection of the team for South Africa and the decision to not extend Nielsen’s contract was also taken without his knowledge.
There has been limited communication between the board and the players after Pakistan’s white-ball tour of Australia, where Gillespie was playing the role of interim coach after Gary Kirsten’s resignation. The PCB did ask Gillespie to play the role of white ball coach till the Champions Trophy but in return, Gillespie was getting the same payment as before. This was a major reason for the sourness in the relationship between the board and the head coach and after this, the sourness continued to grow.
This development is understood to mean the PCB still hadn’t approached the Nielsen alternative but was brainstorming plans to replace the foreign coaches appointed last year with one from Pakistan.
The Pakistan team will play the first Test in Centurion from December 26 while the second Test will be played in Cape Town from January 3. Before this, Pakistan also has to play a series of three ODIs and three T20 matches in South Africa.
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