{"id":3075,"date":"2025-06-16T11:47:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T06:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/?p=3075"},"modified":"2025-06-16T20:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T15:40:36","slug":"kirsten-opens-up-on-pakistan-exit-i-realised-i-had-no-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/2025\/06\/16\/kirsten-opens-up-on-pakistan-exit-i-realised-i-had-no-influence","title":{"rendered":"Kirsten Opens Up on Pakistan Exit: “I Realised I Had No Influence”"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD:<\/strong> Former South African cricketer and short-lived Pakistan white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten has finally spoken out about the turbulent circumstances behind his abrupt resignation from the Pakistan national team, citing a lack of structure, authority, and mounting external interference.<\/p>\n

In a revealing interview on the Wisden Cricket Patreon podcast, Kirsten said he quickly realised he had no real power to shape the team, leading to his departure just months into the role.<\/p>\n

Kirsten was appointed in April 2024 alongside Jason Gillespie, who took charge of the Test side, in what was initially hailed as a fresh chapter for Pakistan cricket. However, that optimism soon gave way to disillusionment.<\/p>\n

No Role in Selections, No Control<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kirsten described his time as “tumultuous,” explaining that being excluded from team selections was a turning point.<\/p>\n

\u201cCricket teams need to be run by cricket people,\u201d he stressed.
\u201cOnce I was taken off selection and asked to take a team I hadn\u2019t helped shape, it became very difficult to have any sort of positive influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

By October, shortly after squads for tours to Australia and Zimbabwe were announced, Kirsten had stepped down, frustrated by his limited control.<\/p>\n

He and Gillespie were left out of the five-member selection committee, a move widely interpreted as a clear sidelining of the coaching staff.<\/p>\n

External Interference and Future Prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kirsten cited “influential noise” and \u201cother agendas\u201d as key factors that made his role unworkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there\u2019s a lot of outside noise, it becomes impossible to lead a team in the right direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Kirsten expressed fondness for the Pakistan players, describing them as \u201cgreat guys\u201d who face immense pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I got invited back to Pakistan tomorrow, I would go \u2014 but under the right circumstances,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Gillespie, who left in December 2024, echoed similar frustrations, particularly over the PCB’s decision to remove high-performance coach Tim Nielsen.<\/p>\n

Kirsten\u2019s candid remarks highlight long-standing issues within Pakistan cricket \u2014 structural instability, blurred authority, and external pressures \u2014 that continue to hinder progress.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: Former South African cricketer and short-lived Pakistan white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten has finally spoken out about the turbulent circumstances behind his abrupt resignation from the Pakistan national team, citing a lack of structure, authority, and mounting external interference. In a revealing interview on the Wisden Cricket Patreon podcast, Kirsten said he quickly realised …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1553,1551,1552],"class_list":["post-3075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-coaching","tag-kirsten","tag-pakistancricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3075"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3135,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions\/3135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}