'It affected me mentally': Jason Gillespie reveals how Aaqib Javed forced him to quit as Pakistan coach

'It affected me mentally': Jason Gillespie reveals how Aaqib Javed forced him to quit as Pakistan coach originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Jason Gillespie says Aaqib Javed's appointment stripped him of all authority and left him mentally deflated as Pakistan coach.

Gillespie claims Javed operated with board support to control everything, making genuine collaboration completely impossible in Pakistan cricket.

Pakistan's current crisis, including mid-tour sackings and player phone confiscations in England, has been directly linked to this toxic structure.

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Jason Gillespie reveals how 'untouchable' Aaqib Javed forced Pakistan exit

Jason Gillespie has broken his silence with a damning account of what it was actually like to coach Pakistan's Test side, and he's placed the blame for the current mess squarely on the shoulders of one man: Aaqib Javed.

The former Australian fast bowler, who quit as Pakistan's Test head coach in 2024, has gone further than ever before in describing what pushed him to the edge, and his picture of life inside Pakistan cricket is a troubling one.

After losing the first two Tests to trail the three-match series 0-2 against England, the PCB responded with a sweeping mid-tour overhaul, axing seven players, along with coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul.

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The situation deteriorated further when a Telegraph report revealed the board had confiscated the phones of two players on tour as part of an inquiry into "discipline and conduct" during the trip. Perhaps most bizarrely, the sacked players were reportedly asked to stay in the country anyway, to avoid awkwardness at a planned meeting with King Charles III.

It's the kind of chaos that tends to bring former insiders out of the woodwork, and Gillespie has had enough of watching from the outside.

Gillespie described an immediate shift the moment Aaqib Javed was brought onto the selection committee in October 2024. Up until that point, Gillespie had a clearly defined role: looking after the Test team, managing players and staff, and having meaningful input into selection decisions. That changed almost overnight.

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"The appointment of Javed fundamentally altered the landscape," Gillespie told in an interview with The Telegraph.

"From that moment, my relationship with Pakistan cricket completely changed. Aaqib came in and took over. It appeared to me that he was in charge of absolutely everything.

"I went from looking after the Test side, managing that and looking after the players and the staff and having a role in selection to then absolutely no role in anything."

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Gillespie revealed the personal toll of being undermined by Aaqib Javed

What makes Gillespie's account particularly striking is his candour about what it did to him personally. This wasn't just a professional frustration, but it hit him somewhere deeper.

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"The whole experience just deflated me and put me off coaching. It affected me mentally, doubting myself and left me thinking whether I still wanted to be involved in the sport," he revealed.

He was unsparing when it came to naming what he felt had happened.

"I was totally disrespected and undermined and I direct that towards Aaqib Javed."

His description of their first meeting set the tone with Javed arriving with attitude and authority, laying out his vision without much interest in discussion.

"At our first meeting he came in with bravado, bluff, and bluster, wanting to show he was the man in charge. He said: 'This is what we need to do.' I listened and said OK," Gillespie said.

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"But this kept on happening, and I pushed back on a couple of his comments. I just felt from that moment on that it wasn't going to work because he'd already decided what he was going to do. There was going to be no collaboration whatsoever."

MORE: 'Step away if you cannot make a difference': Azhar Ali's message to Aaqib Javed

Gillespie's explanation of why Javed was able to operate this way is revealing. It comes down to backing from the very top, thanks to a close relationship with the PCB chairman that effectively made him untouchable.

"Aaqib had the support of the chairman and the board and that's why he felt he was untouchable – as a coach, you feel compromised," Gillespie revealed.

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"He was not a collaborative chairman of selectors. He doesn't take on other people's ideas, thoughts, or opinions. He might think he does, but he doesn't.

It was his way or the highway. He just does what he wants because he is allowed to (because of) his close relationship with the chairman. That's not an environment that I wanted to work in or be a part of."

Watching the current turmoil unfold, Gillespie is clear about where the fault lies and what needs to happen.

"It's heartbreaking for me to see what's going on now, it's a mess. I know the crux of it. It's Aaqib Javed. He is the problem and as long as he is there, then Pakistan cricket will continue to go backwards."

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His prescription is simple enough: find the right coach, give him time, let him pick the captain, and get the board out of the dressing room.

"You get chairman and people at the board sitting at desks picking the captain, it's nonsense," Gillespie revealed.

"Get the right coach in, allow him time to let the dust settle, and then allow him to pick the captain and go from there and rebuild Pakistan cricket and take it forward, because at the moment it's going nowhere."

MORE: Explained: PCB's 'internal disciplinary inquiry' after 7 PAK players were sent home from England

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Gillespie's account is damning because it's entirely believable

The most disturbing part of Gillespie's story isn't the specifics, but it's how familiar it all sounds.

Cricket boards with too much political interference, coaches who are hired with a title but no actual power, individuals with strong personal relationships with the chairman operating beyond accountability; Pakistan cricket has cycled through this story repeatedly, and each time the names change, but the structure stays the same.

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Gillespie is credible precisely because he gained nothing from staying quiet and isn't obviously grinding an axe for personal gain. He's speaking out because the current crisis has made it impossible not to. His call for the board to step back, give a coach real authority, and trust the process is basic governance in most successful sporting organisations, but it has consistently eluded Pakistan cricket.

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Until that changes structurally, not just at the personnel level, the next coach will find themselves in the same position Gillespie described: a title without power, undermined from the inside, and left wondering why they agreed to the job.

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