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Back in June, the Indian spin legend had advised Kirsten to not spend time in Pakistan as their coach.
Gary Kirsten resigned from his role as Pakistan’s white-ball coach. (Image: X, Instagram)
Gary Kirsten stepping down as Pakistan’s head coach has rung alarm bells. The former South Africa batter resigned from his post following a reported rift with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) since the board decided to strip him and Test head coach Jason Gillespie of selection powers. Kirsten was understood to be disappointed with the development.
A couple of days after Kirsten’s resignation was accepted by the PCB, Harbhajan Singh’s old statement went viral on social media. Back in June, the Indian spin legend had advised Kirsten to not spend time in Pakistan as their coach, but rather once again come in as India’s Head Coach.
“Don’t waste ur time there Gary.. Come back to Coach Team INDIA. Gary Kirsten
One of the rare gems. A great coach, mentor, friend to all in the 1202 team. Our winning coach of the 2011 World Cup. Special Man Gary,” said the former Indian spinner in a post uploaded to X.
Kirsten was the Indian Head Coach from 2008-2011 where he helped the Indian side, led by MS Dhoni to clinch the 2011 ODI World Cup.
Harbhajan took to social media to react to the current state of Pakistan cricket with a laughing emoji.
Kirsten’s time with the Pakistan side was not an easy one as other reports claim that Kirsten saw the team being divided. A situation that he had never come across.
Pakistan was under severe scrutiny following the Test series defeat to Bangladesh. The side was under even more pressure to step up once they lost to England as well in the opening Test in Multan as well.
The PCB then made massive changes to the side, which included dropping star players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the side. The move proved to be the right one as the side went on to win both the remaining Tests to ensure that Shan Masood won his first Test series as the captain of the side.
The PCB also decided to appoint Mohammad Rizwan as the skipper of the white-ball sides as well, following Babar Azam’s resignation from the role.
Now the side will be with Kirsten’s coaching expertise as they play Australia in an ODI series.
