Jason Gillespie (AP Photo) NEW DELHI: Former Australian fast-bowling great Jason Gillespie has spoken candidly about his turbulent nine-month stint as head coach of the Pakistan Test team, saying a series of decisions by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) left him feeling “completely humiliated” and ultimately forced his resignation.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Gillespie was appointed as Pakistan’s red-ball coach in April 2024, with former South Africa batsman Gary Kirsten taking over the white-ball formats. But the two-coach experiment unraveled quickly. Kirsten resigned in October and Gillespie followed in December after the PCB abruptly removed senior assistant Tim Nielsen without consulting him.
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“I was coaching the Pakistan Test side. The PCB sacked our head assistant coach because he had ZERO communication with me about it,” Gillespie wrote on X. “As head coach I found this situation totally unacceptable. There were a number of other issues that completely humiliated me.” Nielsen, the former head coach of Australia, was appointed as the high-performance red-ball coach in August 2024, but was informed that his services were no longer required ahead of Pakistan’s 2024–25 tour of South Africa. Gillespie said he was blindsided by the decision and became the ultimate breaking point.Speaking to ABC Sport, Gillespie said he entered the role aware of the challenges. “I went into the job with my eyes wide open. I knew that Pakistan had gone through a number of coaches in a relatively short space of time,” he said. “But the straw that broke the camel’s back was completely and utterly blindsided by this decision.
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He added that the lack of communication goes beyond Nielsen’s hatchet. “I just thought, ‘I’m not really sure if they really want me to do this job or not.’Gillespie also revealed how marginalized he felt in the role. “I felt I basically hit the catches and that was on the morning of the game,” he said, stressing the importance of clear dialogue with selectors and administrators.After briefly serving as interim white-ball coach, Gillespie was replaced by Aaqib Javed across formats. According to ESPNCricinfo, Gillespie and the PCB are now embroiled in a financial dispute, with the former coach demanding unpaid fees while the board claim he failed to provide the required four-month notice.
