Gary Kirsten, the former South African cricketer and coach of the 2011 World Cup-winning team, has disclosed the reasons behind his brief tenure with the Pakistan national cricket team. Having accepted the white-ball coaching role in April 2024, Kirsten resigned after six months, pointing to a lack of control over significant decisions as the primary factor.
Kirsten admitted that he soon understood he wouldn’t be able to make the impact he desired. Despite an initial optimistic outlook, his role didn’t provide the necessary independence or support to implement meaningful changes within Pakistan’s white-ball setup.
His departure coincided with the resignation of Jason Gillespie, the then head coach of the Pakistan Test team. Gillespie, who led Pakistan to a historic ODI series win in Australia, also resigned due to similar frustrations within the team’s structure.
Kirsten, also the batting coach for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has not ruled out a return to coaching Pakistan. He indicated that he would consider resuming a coaching role, provided he could perform his duties effectively and without external interference.
Kirsten’s short time with Pakistan highlights the ongoing issues within the team’s management and organizational structure, even as he remains a highly respected figure in the coaching world.
“It was a tumultuous few months. I realised quite quickly I wasn’t going to have much of an influence. Once I was taken off selection and asked to take a team and not be able to shape the team, it became very difficult as a coach then to have any sort of positive influence on the group,” Kirsten said on the Wisden Podcast.
“If I got invited back to Pakistan tomorrow, I would go, but I would want to go for the players, and I would want to go under the right circumstances. Cricket teams need to be run by cricket people. When that’s not happening and when there’s a lot of noise from the outside that’s very influential noise, it’s very difficult for leaders within the team to walk a journey that you feel like you need to walk in order to take this team to where it needs to go.”
“I’m too old now to be dealing with other agendas; I just want to coach a cricket team and work with the players – I love the Pakistan players; they’re great guys. I had a very short period of time with them, and I feel for them. More than any other team in the world, they feel the pressure of performance massively; when they lose, it’s hectic for them, and they feel that.”
“But they’re professional cricketers, and I’m a professional cricket coach. When we get into that environment, there are generally certain things you do to help a team be the best that they can be, and when there’s no interference, you go down the road, and if it’s a talented group of guys, you’re generally going to have success,” he concluded.