Former England captain Kevin Pietersen questioned the Pakistan Cricket Board after white-ball coach Gary Kirsten stepped down amid developing a rift with the country's cricket board within six months of his appointment. The 56-year-old South African, who coached India to victory at the 2011 ODI World, was appointed by the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) in April end this year.
Kevin Pietersen took his 'X' to question the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on their decision to part ways with Gary Kirsten.
"How can Pakistan Cricket lose Gary Kirsten’s with his resumè in coaching? One step forward the last few weeks and two steps back today! Stop doing it to yourselves. Too much talent to keep doing this kind of stuff!" posted Pietersen.
"The Pakistan Cricket Board announced Jason Gillespie will coach the Pakistan men's cricket team on next month's white-ball tour of Australia after Gary Kirsten submitted his resignation, which was accepted," the PCB posted on 'X'.
Red-ball coach Gillispie has informed the PCB that he is available to oversee the upcoming white-ball tour of Australia starting November 4, but he is not seeking a permanent position as the limited-overs coach, according to PTI's reliable source familiar with the situation.
"Gillispie has informed the board they should look for a replacement for Kirsten for the white ball games in Zimbabwe and onwards," he added.
Though the PCB didn’t give the reason for Kirsten’s sudden resignation, the source confirmed that it was because he was not involved when the board announced the squads for the Australia and Zimbabwe tours and the new captain of the white ball format on Sunday.
The PCB has withdrawn the coaches selection powers. Selection is now exclusively the domain of the selection committee.
"Kirsten was not happy with the abrupt manner in which the board took away his powers in selection and other team matters and made this very clear to Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday before sending in his resignation," another insider said as quoted by PTI.
Pakistan recently defeated England 2-0 to win the three Test match series. This was Pakistan's first Test series win under Shan Masood's captaincy.
