Pakistan Player Questions Coach Gary Kirsten Before T20 World Cup: 'Not Showing Confidence, Making Weak Statements'
pakistan player questions coach gary kirsten before t20 world cup: ‘not showing confidence, making weak statements’
Newly appointed white-ball head coach of the Pakistan men’s cricket team, Gary Kirsten, has not even taken the hot seat but his credentials and abilities are already being questioned.
Kirsten, who takes over as the head coach of the Pakistan men’s team ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, has been appointed for a two-year period, during which he will oversee the team in three major ICC tournaments — two T20 World Cups (2024, 2026) and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.
“If you can win one of those three ICC Events, that will be an amazing achievement on its own, whether it’s the upcoming event or it’s two years from now,” Kirsten had said on the PCB Podcast.
However, this statement was slammed by out of favour Pakistan player Ahmed Shehzad.
“Gary Kirsten is a renowned coach but he will be fed information by those who will select the team. He does not have a base in Lahore nor has he grown up in Pakistan to understand the nature of different players,” said Shehzad was Pakistan’s first T20I century-maker.
“At the end of the day, those involved with PCB are the ones who will be guiding him and doing all of this 2 years will have passed by. Already he has made a statement that I did not like. Kirsten said if we do not win the upcoming T20 World Cup then we might do well in the next two,” he said during a conversation with Geo News.
“So already he is keeping himself in a safe position. He must show confidence and these are weak statements. This is not how a winner talks,” added Shehzad, who was a part of the T20 World Cup winning team in 2009.
While Kirsten was appointed as Pakistan’s new white-ball head coach, former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie was given charge of the Test team.
Kirsten was the head coach of the MS Dhoni-led Indian team that won the ODI World Cup title in 2011.