9 july 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : In the wake of Pakistan’s dismal showing in the T20 World Cup, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday gave head coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie a free hand to turn the fortunes of the team, according to sources. Pakistan lost to newcomers USA and arch-rivals India in the Group stages of the World Cup to be eliminated from the competition held in the USA and the Caribbean. Naqvi met the white-ball and red-ball coaches, where Kirsten and Gillespie shared their plans for the national team.
“Kirsten was blunt in laying down his concerns about the white-ball team based on the World Cup,” said a PCB source.
Both the head coaches told the PCB chairman that they wanted to set clear guidelines about the fitness levels required to be considered for Pakistan team selection.
“Naqvi told them they should do whatever is necessary to change the fortunes of the team and no one would ask them to make any compromises on selection or the fitness of players,” the source added.
Kirsten had warned senior pros in the side following the team’s loss to the USA and India to adapt to new skill-sets and improve their game awareness, or get left behind. Senior team manager, Wahab Riaz, in his report submitted to Naqvi, had outlined personality clashes in the side during the World Cup.
“The PCB chief said both the coaches had a free hand to take whatever decisions they wanted to improve the performances of the team in red-ball and white-ball formats.” Assistant coach Azhar Mahmood was also present during the meeting.