Former Pakistan head coach Gary Kirsten slams PCB for lot of external noise

Former South African cricketer and the ex-Pakistan white-ball coach, Gary Kirsten, stated there was a lot of external noise, which led to his decision to step down from his position as the head coach in white-ball formats after being appointed in April 2024.

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Notably, Kirsten played a pivotal role as a head coach in Team India lifting the 2011 ODI World Cup. While Kirsten was assigned as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach in April 2024, he resigned from his post six months later.

"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.

Moreover, Kirsten stated that if there is no external noise, he is open to taking up the coaching role yet again for the Men In Green. In order to take the team to where it needs to go, Kirsten wanted free rein instead of influential figures having their say.

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"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,” he added.

"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,” he stated.

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