I was ‘utterly blindsided’ by the PCB dealings, says Gillespie after he decided to quit the role as test coach.
I was ‘utterly blindsided’ is the message that is being echoed by Jason Gillespie after quitting as the Pakistan men’s test coach.
Gillespie quit last week, citing a lack of communication as the reason he felt the Pakistan Cricket Board no longer wanted him in the position. His contract was scheduled to expire in 2026.
“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,” Gillespie told ABC Sport. “I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach,” he added.
Tim Nielsen was hired as the team’s high performance coach on the Gillespie’s advice, although the PCB first failed to approve his contract. Gillespie had begun to question his own future as a result.
“Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that,” Gillespie said. “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 want me to do this job or not.'”
“I developed a really close relationship with the Test captain, Shan Masood. Itnd felt we were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well,” he said. “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.”