File photo of Pakistan cricket team.© AFP
Pakistan’s former red-ball head coach, Jason Gillespie has said that interim head coach, Aaqib Javed and the national selectors should take the responsibility for the team’s poor performance in the ICC Champions Trophy. Hosts Pakistan were eliminated prematurely after losing their group games in the marquee tournament to New Zealand and India. “We saw the results were not good enough. Ultimately he (Aaqib) has to bear the responsibility. He wanted complete control (of the affairs of the team) and he got it. The national selectors also have a lot of responsibility to take for the squad they picked to play in the tournament,” said Gillespie, the former Australian pace bowler, in conversation with Pakistani cricket content creator Saj Sadiq.
Gillespie added that he always felt something was going on behind the scenes in Pakistan cricket when he was the head coach.
“I always felt there were things going on behind the scenes I was not aware of. And it didn’t surprise me when he (Aaqib) was announced as interim coach,” Gillespie said in a video posted on social media.
“In my opinion it (Aaqib’s appointment) was always on the cards that this was going to happen. You can read into it as you want,” he added.
Gillespie blamed Aaqib for undermining him and white-ball coach Gary Kirsten.
“He made it clear he wanted to be chief selector and he made it clear how he wanted the team to go about their work. He wanted complete control and he got it.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had signed Gillespie and Kirsten as head coaches on two-year contracts. But within 6-8 months of the duo being hired, relations between the foreign coaches and PCB soured following the appointment of a new selection committee of which Aaqib is a senior selector along with Azhar Ali, Asaad Shafiq, Aleem Dar and Hasan Cheema.
The new selection committee took charge after Pakistan lost 0-2 to Bangladesh at home in a World Test Championship series.
The two foreign experts resigned one after the other in late 2024, complaining of being stripped of authority and being kept in the dark by the selectors.
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