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Gary Kristen (Source: X)
For his demands while serving as Pakistan's white-ball head coach, Basit Ali has blasted Gary Kirsten. Kirsten quit after six months of her two-year contract with the PCB. Kirsten and Jason Gillespie became coaches of white-ball and Test cricket for the national squad. For the forthcoming tour of Australia, which will include three ODIs and three T20Is, the former bowler for Australia has assumed leadership of the Pakistani squad.
Gary Kirsten left because Babar Azam was not chosen for the Zimbabwean tour, according to a report from Cricket Pakistan. For the Test series against South Africa, Kirsten and Gillespie wanted Babar to play in Zimbabwe to acclimate him to the conditions. But the newly appointed selection committee paid no attention.
"Gary Kristen is acting innocent. How can you say that I will not coach Pakistan if Babar Azam is not there? How can you do that for one player? You wanted Mohammad Harris as the captain. Why should we listen to you? Did you go to the Emerging Teams Asia Cup to watch Haris? He is just a kid and let him play. You shouldn't do injustice to him? You watched the Emerging Teams Asia Cup on television," Basit Ali said.
Gary Kirsten's tenure ended on a bad note
Kirsten had stated that if Babar Azam was not on the team, Basit would not coach the Men in Green, Basit said. When Babar Azam resigned as captain of the ODI and T20I teams, the former South African star also wanted young batter Mohammad Harris to take over. Additionally, Basit stated that Kirsten did not support Muhammad Rizwan being named captain for one-day and Twenty20 international matches.
"Gary Kirsten was not in favour of Mohammad Rizwan becoming Pakistan's captain in shorter formats and Shaheen Afridi to be a part of the team. Is that Pakistan's team or Gary Kirsten's team? He got a shut-up call from Aaqib Javed."
Gary opposed the decision to add Shaheen Afridi to the team, he also disclosed. Pakistan lost the Twenty20 International series against England under Gary Kirsten's leadership, and they were subsequently eliminated from the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 group stage.