Kirsten, Gillespie to coach Pakistani Cricket Team in T20 and One Day Cricket.

Pakistan Cricket Board's Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday confirmed the appointment of former South African Gary Kirsten and former Australian quick Jason Gillespie as white-ball and red ball cricket coaches respectively of the Pakistan Men’s cricket teams for a period of two years.

“Former Pakistan all-rounder Azher Mehmood has been assigned as assistant coach in all three formats for the period,” the PCB Chairman said, adding that a transparent recruitment process had been adopted for the appointment of the coaching staff.

Mohsin Naqvi said that the white-ball cricket coach Gary Kirsten will join the team in England at the end of a foreign cricket league where he is the head coach of a franchise. Kirsten will coach Pakistan in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, all white-ball bilateral series, the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, ACC T20 Cup 2025 and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.

He said Jason Gillespie will join the team later as Pakistan did not have any Test cricket commitments.

To a query, Naqvi said the best available foreign coaches have been hired by the PCB, adding that the foreign coaches bring with them more to offer to the players than local coaches. He expressed hope that the Pakistan cricketers will gain from the cricketing acumen and coaching expertise of these coaches who have vast experience of international cricket and coaching teams. Mohsin Naqvi said that local coaches were behind their foreign counterparts in use of technology and science.

“The players will also be able to improve their language skills in the presence of a foreign coach,” the BCP Chairman quipped when asked about Pakistani players incapacity to communicate in English.

He said that a GPS was made available immediately to the team’s coaching staff, adding that the PCB was bound to provide the cricketers with all kinds of facilities instead of keeping the money locked in the bank lockers.