Former international players Gary Kirsten and Jason Gallispie have been appointed as the Pakistan head coaches in white ball and red ball cricket, respectively. Former Pakistan all-rounder Azher Mahmood will be the assistant coach of both Kirsten and Gillespie.
The three former international players played against each other on a few occasions in the mid 90’s until early 00’s.
Mahmood’s Test debut was against South Africa in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1997. Mahmood scored an unbeaten 128 in the first innings. In the second innings, he would go on to score 50 not out. Kirsten was not to be out done as well as he scored 98 in the drawn match.
Kirsten and Gillespie match ups were one-sided as Gillespie was part of a strong bowling Australian lineup that had Glenn McGrath and the late Shane Warne.
As players, they were all fantastic players, and now, as coaches, they have good resumes. Kirsten won the World Cup with India under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.
“Their stellar track records precede them, and I warmly welcome them to the Pakistan cricket family,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said of Kirsten and Gillespie.
“Jason’s coaching career has been marked by success both at the domestic and international levels, with a focus on player development and achieving excellence in team performance. Gary’s coaching career has been marked by his ability to instill a winning mentality, develop young talent, and achieve success at the highest levels of the game, making him one of the most respected and sought-after coaches in cricket.
Kirsten also had a successful stint as the Proteas coach. He has coached at various levels as either a head coach or batting consultant in various T20 franchises around the world.
While Kirsten’s fame as a head coach was winning a world cup with India. Since then, he has not had a successful stint as a head coach in the Hundred for Welsh Fire, he had a bad campaign, and as Royal Challenges Bangaluru, he did not have a successful stint, while these are notable instances as learning experiences, he is still a cut above within a coaching landscape.
Kistern is the third former Proteas coach to coach Pakistan after the late Bob Woolmer and Mickey Arthur. Kirsten is the Pakistan white ball cricket under captaincy of Babar Azam. Babar recently took back the captaincy responsibilities after Shaheen Afridi was briefly the Pakistan T20 captain.
It will be interesting to see how Kirsten will deal with Pakistan cricket culture and expectations.
Kirsten first main assignment is to prepare the Pakistan team for the T20 World Cup in June. Part of those preparations is a 4 match T20 series against England starting on 22 May.
Pakistan has a group of talented players that can win the T20 World Cup. Kirsten will fancy his chances with the group of players. On June 9, Pakistan takes on India in the group stages. That is the one fixture that will give Kirsten sleepless nights.
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