The drama of Pakistan cricket is not ending. There is going to be a change in the Pakistan cricket team again amid the Champions Trophy controversy. Pakistan Cricket Board, which has changed different captains and coaches for the last several months, is once again going to take a big decision. Coach Jason Gillespie, who made Pakistan win the Test series and ODI series in Australia after several months, is being fired. According to a report, the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to remove Gillespie within just 6 months. Last month itself, Gary Kirsten also resigned as team coach after differences with the Pakistani board.
According to the report of ESPN-Cricinfo, the Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to remove Gillespie as the head coach of all three formats. Gillespie is currently in Australia with the Pakistani team, where Pakistan made a comeback in the first ODI series and won 2-1 but the team has lagged 0-2 in the T20 series. The third T20 match will be played between Pakistan and Australia on Monday 18 November, which will be Gillespie’s last match as a coach.
PCB had appointed Kirsten and Gillespie as the head coaches of the team in May this year itself. Kirsten was appointed the coach of the team for ODI and T20 while Gillespie was appointed for the Test format. Then after Kirsten’s resignation last month, the PCB gave this responsibility to Gillespie for some time. The board had then said that Gillespie would also be the white ball coach for the Australia tour, for which he had agreed and now this is being said to be the major reason for the controversy.
Cricinfo report claims that PCB wants Gillespie to serve as the head coach of the team in all three formats till the Champions Trophy but it does not want to make any changes in his contract. This means that as a coach of all three formats, Gillespie will get the same amount of salary as he was getting only as a Test coach. In such a situation, the former Australian pacer rejected this offer, due to which the PCB got angry and decided to remove him from the coaching of all three formats.
However, the PCB is engaged in a cover-up and is trying to put the blame on Gillespie. The report quoted a board official as saying that Gillespie is not spending as much time with the team as was stipulated in his contract, but Gillespie has rejected this claim. Gillespie believes that he has adhered to the terms of his contract and has gone above and beyond to spend extra time with the players and the junior team.
(The news is being updated)
