"Completely and utterly blindsided"- Outgoing Pakistan head coach lashes out at PCB after sudden resignation
Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) a few days after his sudden resignation as the team's Test head coach. The 49-year-old resigned from the position on Friday, December 13 after refusing to board the plane for Pakistan's upcoming Test series in South Africa.
His decision came after the board axed high-performance coach Tim Nielson without proper communication. Gillespie was appointed as Pakistan's Test head coach on a two-year contract in April.
Finally opening up on his decision to resign, Gillespie said on ABC Grandstand:
"I went into the job eyes wide open, I want to make that really clear. I knew that Pakistan had cycled through a number of coaches in a pretty short space of time but I put my case forward and explained how I felt I could help. But the straw that broke the camel’s back… as a head coach you like to have clear communication with your employer and I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to no longer have a high-performance coach."
He added:
"My senior assistant coach Tim Nielsen was told his services were no longer required and I had zero communication from anyone about that and I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was the moment I thought well I’m not really sure they actually want me to do this job."
Under Gillespie, Pakistan played only the home Test series against Bangladesh and England. While they suffered an embarrassing 0-2 whitewash in the former, they overcame a 0-1 deficit to win 2-1 against Ben Stokes' men.
"I had developed a really close relationship with the Test captain, Shan Masood" - Jason Gillespie
Despite his resignation, Jason Gillespie acknowledged sharing an excellent relationship with Pakistan's Test captain Shan Masood and the other players.
Along with Gillespie, former South African batter Gary Kirsten was appointed as Pakistan's white-ball coach in May. Yet, like Gillespie, Kirsten resigned prematurely for similar reasons in October.
"That was the frustrating thing as well, I had developed a really close relationship with the Test captain, Shan Masood. We were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well, all the feedback that I’d got or the PCB got was just how effective Tim had been in his role and the players were getting a lot out of him, they called him grandpa and there was some good banter between the boys," said Gillespie.
He concluded:
"So to get all the positive feedback from everyone involved with Pakistan cricket about how effective we were as a coaching group, for a decision to then be made (about Nielsen) and the head coach doesn’t get a text message, phone call or email about a decision that’s a pretty big decision. It just left me thinking well I’m really not sure if the PCB wants me."
Much like the white-ball sides, former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed will take over as their Test coach on an interim basis.
Meanwhile, Pakistan are currently playing the white-ball games in South Africa, following which the two-Test series will start on December 26.