Jason Gillespie exposes PCB in scathing attack, reveals 'poor communication, being blindsided' as reason for resignation
Jason Gillespie clearly stated that the communication between him and the PCB was unclear, and this led to him resigning as the red-ball coach.
Jason Gillespie recently resigned as Pakistan's Test coach. He has finally opened up about his reasons for stepping down, just days ahead of the upcoming two-test series against South Africa. In a scathing attack against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Gillespie said that he was never wanted as the coach.
Jason Gillespie took over the reins of the Pakistan Test team in April 2024 and oversaw the 2-1 series win against England.
Without mincing his words, Gillespie clearly stated that the communication between him and the PCB was unclear, and the sacking of high-performance coach Tim Neilsen eventually forced him to step down.
Gillespie also made some shocking revelations, saying he would get the communication about the players of the squad just a day before the match.
Speaking to ABC Sport, Gillespie said, "There were certainly challenges. I went into the job eyes wide open, I want to make that really clear. I knew that, you know, Pakistan had cycled through a number of coaches in a pretty short space of time."
"The straw that broke the camel's back, I suppose, was, as a head coach, you like to have clear communication with your employer. I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach," he added.
'Completely blindsided'
Jason Gillespie also revealed that he was completely blindsided by the decision to not have a high-performance coach. He revealed that the feedback given to him regarding Neilsen and the team's performance was positive, so there was no reason to sack the high-performance coach.
"Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required, and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that, and I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was probably the moment where I thought, 'Well, I'm not really sure if they actually really want me to do this job or not'," said Gillespie.
"I developed a really close relationship with the test captain, Shan Masood, and felt we were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well. All the feedback that I'd got or the feedback the PCB got was just how effective, you know, Tim had been in his role as well, and the players were getting a lot out of him," he added.
For the uninitiated, Pakistan lost the first Test against England by an innings and 47 runs. However, the hosts turned their fortunes around and won the series 2-1.
Recently, former South Africa batter Gary Kirsten also resigned as Pakistan's white-ball coach. Gillespie oversaw the white-ball series against Australia as well.
"I felt I was basically hitting catches, and that was about it on the morning of a game," he said.
"You want to be able to have clear communication with all stakeholders, with selectors, for instance, knowing what the team is as head coach well before the game, or before at least the day before the game," he added.
After Gillespie's resignation, Aqib Javed has been named as the interim Test coach of Pakistan.
