Former Pakistan head coach Gary Kirsten has spoken about his brief tenure with the side, revealing that extensive involvement from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) played a significant role in his premature departure.
Kirsten, who was appointed in April 2024 on a two-year contract, stepped down as head coach of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I teams after just six months, leaving only days before the team’s scheduled ODI tour of Australia.
The former South Africa opener said the level of external influence in team matters was unlike anything he had encountered before.
“The thing that surprised me more than anything was the level of interference. I don’t think I have ever seen it at that level before. Did it surprise me? I don’t know, but it was significant,” Kirsten told talkSPORT Cricket.
Following his resignation, the PCB appointed Test coach Jason Gillespie as interim coach of the white-ball team for the Australia tour, which featured six limited-overs matches. However, Gillespie also stepped down from his role a few months later.
Kirsten explained that the persistent external pressure made it difficult to build a stable working environment with the players. “It is quite difficult for a coach to come and formulate a way that you can work with the players when there is just this constant noise from the outside. It was tough, just this constant noise from the outside and a lot of punitive actions around poor performance and stuff like that,” he said.
He further noted that coaches often become the easiest targets when results do not go a team’s way.
“As a coach, you are the lowest hanging fruit when the team isn’t going well, so let us get rid of the coach or let us put a restriction on the coach because that is the easiest thing to do when the teams are performing, and that is kind of counterproductive in my view,” he added.