Gary Kirsten reveals reason for stepping down as Pakistan’s white-ball coach

Former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten, who coached India to the 2011 ODI World Cup win, revealed that a quick realisation of how he wasn’t going to have much influence as Pakistan’s white-ball coach forced him to step down.

Kirsten was appointed as Pakistan’s white-ball coach in April 2024, the same time when Jason Gillespie became the Test team head coach. But just six months into his job, Kirsten resigned from the role. Months later, Gillespie, who was the coach when Pakistan won the ODI series in Australia, quit the team’s coaching staff.

“It was a tumultuous few months. I realised quite quickly I wasn’t going to have much of an influence. Once I was taken off selection and asked to take a team and not be able to shape the team, it became very difficult as a coach then to have any sort of positive influence on the group,” Kirsten said on the Wisden Podcast.

“If I got invited back to Pakistan tomorrow, I would go, but I would want to go for the players, and I would want to go under the right circumstances. I’m too old now to be dealing with other agendas; I just want to coach a cricket team and work with the players — I love the Pakistan players; they’re great guys and I feel for them,” Kirsten said.

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