Jason Gillespie set to keep Pakistan coaching job as PCB ‘strongly refute’ sacking claim

Australian cricket great Jason Gillespie appears to have survived being sacked by Pakistan after a report just hours before Monday night’s T20 sparked outrage among fellow coaches.

The 49-year-old initially took charge of Pakistan’s Test side earlier this year with South African Gary Kirsten leading the white-ball teams.

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Gillespie then added Kirsten’s role to his portfolio when the latter resigned last month on the eve of Pakistan’s tour of Australia.

By then Gillespie had already revealed his battles with Pakistan officials, describing his Test role as a downgraded “match-day strategist” — something that he said “wasn’t what I signed up for”.

It appeared the relationship had broken down further in Australia this month when ESPNCricinfo reported the decision had been made to sack Gillespie, claiming an announcement could come before Pakistan’s dead-rubber T20 against the Aussies in Hobart on Monday night.

“This is unbelievable,” Gillespie’s ex-teammate Darren Lehmann fumed, adding shrug and angry emojis.

Mickey Arthur, who knows plenty about Pakistan cricket after coaching the team from 2016-19, said: “This is just incredible and another very good coach under contract set to be replaced!”

But Pakistan issued a stern response to the report: “PCB strongly refutes the story. As announced previously, Jason Gillespie will continue to coach the Pakistan side for the two red-ball matches against South Africa.”

Lehmann in turn applauded Pakistan’s response: “Better news.”

Still, questions linger over Gillespie’s future given the PCB statement only made note of the South Africa series despite another pressing engagement.

Pakistan will host the West Indies for two Tests in January starting just nine days after the end of the second and final Test against South Africa.

The ESPNCricinfo report suggested the apparent move to axe Gillespie stemmed from the Australian rejecting Pakistan’s request to coach their white-ball sides without an upgrade to what was believed to be a contract until 2026.

Pakistan are set to host the ICC Champions Trophy in February and March next year but those plans are still in disarray over India’s decision not to play in the country.

Aaqib Javed, who helped Pakistan win the 1992 World Cup, was named by ESPNCricinfo as the man set to take over from Gillespie as coach for all three formats.

But Pakistan’s public backing of Gillespie suggests Javed could instead only step in to lead the white-ball sides.

Javed was recently promoted as part of the selection committee reshuffle that frustrated Gillespie during Pakistan’s Test tour of England.

Gillespie led Pakistan to a 2-1 ODI series victory over Australia earlier this month but the tourists lost the first two T20s last week.

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