Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is on the defensive again. They might have finally won a home Test series, but controversy has continued to follow them around. This time, it’s regarding their recently appointed white-ball head coach, Gary Kirsten, leaving.
No one can question Kirsten’s reputation as a former cricketer and current coach. However, the same can’t be said about the PCB. They’ve made a habit of making haphazard decisions. So when the Protean coach decided to resign, no one questioned him but rather the board.
PCB Chief deflects blame onto Gary Kirsten
Mohsin Naqvi was asked about Kirsten quitting after completing just one-fourth of his contract, but the PCB Chief deflected the question. It almost seemed like he decided to put the blame on Kirsten for leaving after the board changed his job description on a whim without informing him.
“Do you think it’s been mishandled a little bit? We’ve heard the PCB and Gary Kirsten weren’t on the same page; there was some miscommunication. It doesn’t reflect well on Pakistan Cricket that people of such reputation are leaving and claiming the PCB have broken their trust,” a journalist asked Naqvi during his visit to the Karachi Stadium.
“We haven’t broken anyone’s trust. He’s done that by leaving,” said the PCB Chief after inspecting the progress of the venue for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Why Kirsten resigned as Pakistan head coach
For the unaware, Kirsten was unhappy with the PCB because his say in the selection of team and captain was revoked all of a sudden. When he took the job, he was given a place in the selection committee, but that was taken away midway through the Pakistan vs England Test series after a new committee was formed. Feeling betrayed, Kirsten expressed that this wasn’t what he intended to be. That, he wasn’t going to be a ‘match-day analyst’.
Kirsten wasn’t even in Pakistan when the PCB named Mohammad Rizwan as the new white-ball captain. Instead, Naqvi had brought along Aaqib Javed, one of the members of the selection committee, to inform the world about Babar Azam‘s successor.
