Newly-appointed Pakistan white-ball coach Gary Kirsten held the first meeting with the men’s national team on Saturday, May 4, ahead of their packed T20I schedule. Notably, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently appointed Kirsten and Jason Gillespie as their new head coaches for the white-ball and red-ball formats respectively.
With a packed T20 schedule approaching for Pakistan which includes a 3-match T20I series against Ireland, 4 matches against England and the all-important T20 World Cup 2024, Kirsten connected with the team via a video call.
In a sneak peek of the meeting shared by the PCB’s X handle, white-ball captain Babar Azam and other players, namely Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Azam Khan, and Fakhar Zaman, amongst others, were seen intently listening to the new head coach as they devised their plans for the crucial events.
Notably, Kirsten has had a successful coaching career as he led India to a historic ODI World Cup triumph on their home soil in 2011. Under his tenure, South Africa became the Number 1 ranked Test side in 2012. The PCB would hope that the 56-year-old can replicate his success with the Pakistan side as well and help them win their first ICC title since 2017.
Pakistan re-appointed Babar Azam ahead of T20 WC
Pakistan’s journey towards the World Cup has been quite controversial with Babar Azam being re-appointed as the skipper just two months ahead of the tournament. The star batter was removed from the leadership role after Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-final of the ODI World Cup 2023. Shaheen Afridi was entrusted with the leadership role for T20Is while Shan Masood took up the captaincy of Tests.
However, Afridi had a forgettable beginning to his captaincy career as he led Pakistan to a 1-4 series loss against New Zealand in January earlier this year. Thereafter, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi re-instated Babar as their white-ball skipper. The move reportedly didn’t go down well with Afridi, who was reportedly left disappointed with the sudden captaincy change.
Meanwhile, Pakistan will take on Ireland on May 10 in Dublin while their T20 World Cup campaign will start against the USA on June 6, followed by the all-important game against India on June 9.