Gary Kirsten has opened up about his abrupt departure as Pakistan’s white-ball coach, blaming internal power struggles and a lack of authority for his decision to step down just six months into the job.Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Patreon podcast, the former South Africa opener and World Cup-winning coach detailed how he quickly realised his influence within the Pakistan setup was limited. “It was a tumultuous few months. I realised quite quickly I wasn’t going to have much of an influence,” Kirsten said.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Appointed in April 2024, alongside Jason Gillespie for the red-ball role, Kirsten parted ways with the team in October, a day after Pakistan announced squads for their tours of Australia and Zimbabwe — selections he had no role in shaping.
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“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,” he explained.Kirsten’s comments also highlighted a larger dysfunction within Pakistan cricket, with both he and Gillespie excluded from the revamped five-member selection committee. Gillespie later quit, citing the controversial sacking of high-performance coach Tim Nielsen as a trigger.
Despite the setbacks, Kirsten left the door open for a return under better conditions. “If I got invited back to Pakistan tomorrow, I would go… under the right circumstances,” he said. “Cricket teams need to be run by cricket people. When there’s a lot of outside noise — very influential noise — it’s very difficult for leaders within the team.”He concluded, “I’m too old now to be dealing with other agendas. I just want to coach a cricket team, work with the players — and Pakistan’s players are fantastic.”
