Pakistan has refuted reports Aussie cricket great Jason Gillespie is set to be sacked.
The bombshell dropped on Sunday night with the Pakistan Cricket Board taking the unusual approach of directly replying to a news outlet’s Twitter post that first made the claims.
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Gillespie has been in charge of Pakistan during its white-ball Tour of Australia following the sudden exit of former white ball coach Gary Kirsten last month.
The former South Australian coach stepped into the difficult position as Pakistan’s Test cricket head coach earlier this year at a time when the proud cricketing nation has been in a period of upheaval.
ESPN Cricinfo first reported Gillespie is set to be removed because of a series of developments happening behind the scenes.
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The report claimed Gillespie will be replaced by Aaqib Javed, who currently sits on the selection panel.
According to the report, Gillespie was offered a new position of being head coach across all three formats of the game with a push coming from powerbrokers for the country to return to a sole-coach model — rather than the current set up where the white ball and red ball teams are coached separately.
The report claims the new contract offered to Gillespie was only worth the same money as his current Test-only deal, and was rejected by the Australian.
With reports the PCB has settled on Javed for the role of white ball coach, it has been speculated there has been a push for him to also take over the role as Test coach.
The PCB has since gone public to deny the story.
“PCB strongly refutes the story,” the governing body posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As announced previously, Jason Gillespie will continue to coach the Pakistan side for the two red-ball matches against South Africa.”
Details of the statement have, however, only added more uncertainty to Gillespie’s future.
The PCB’s failure to endorse Gillespie beyond the two-Test series in South Africa, beginning Boxing Day, has not gone unnoticed.
Gillespie previously signed on as Pakistan test coach through to the end of 2026.
Javed, meanwhile, will reportedly take up the role of white ball coach ahead of Pakistan’s series with Zimbabwe, starting next week.
This role has not been confirmed. Gillespie has served as ODI and T20 coach in an interim capacity during the Tour of Australia.
Gillespie helped Pakistan to its first series win in Australia since 1992 when they claimed a 2-1 ODI series victory.
The T20 series finale takes place on Monday night with Australia winning both earlier matches.
Gillespie, meanwhile, has previously spoken about the challenge he knew he would face as coach of Pakistan.
The 49-year-old has previously coached domestic teams in India, England and Australia, including the Adelaide Strikers, but admitted recently this was his biggest assignment yet.
“It’s a completely different environment,” he told Al Jazeera earlier this month.
“For a start, it’s a Test coaching gig as opposed to domestic cricket. I’ve coached a lot in the United Kingdom and coached a lot in Australia, I’ve done a little bit in India with the Indian Premier League and in Zimbabwe, so this is a new challenge.
“I’m doing a lot of observing and listening to try to understand and add some value in the right way.
“I was conscious of not just coming in, being brazen and saying, ‘I know everything – do this, do this and this’.
“I wanted to come in and listen, learn and get a feel for what Pakistan cricket is about. It’s been a good learning curve.”
It has been turbulent times for Pakistan cricket with the team going through eight coaches since November, 2022.
