Pakistan Cricket Board is reportedly set to appoint Gary Kirsten as head coach, and Jason Gillespie as assistant coach of the national team ahead of the upcoming T20I World Cup in June.
The apex cricketing board of the country has reportedly made this decision following the removal of T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and the re-appointment of Babar Azam as skipper of the shortest format of the game.
According to reports, the PCB is still in the hunt for the position of head coach in Test format and the two coaches will only handle Pakistan’s white ball tours in international cricket.
Earlier, PCB was in negotiations with Darren Sammy and Shane Watson but both the players said no to the offer due to instability in the ranks of the cricket board.
Darren Sammy refrained from taking the coaching job due to his commitments with West Indies in white-ball cricket and Shane Watson was on the verge of becoming the most expensive head coach of Pakistan but backed off after reports of his proposed hefty salary leaked in the media.
The national cricketing body has been searching for a head coach for the last three months since the tenure of Zaka Ashraf but ever since Mohsin Naqvi has taken charge at the helm it seems like a foreign coach is a top priority.
Both Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie have vast coaching experience and can revive the deteriorating state of Pakistan Cricket.
Gary Kirsten is currently working with Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL) under Ashish Nehra and he won the ICC ODI World Cup with India in 2011 as head coach ending their 28-year title-winning drought.
On the other hand, Jason Gillespie has worked with English cricket county clubs, Yorkshire and Sussex, while also serving as the interim coach of Papua New Guinea in 2017.
He has also worked as the bowling coach of Punjab Kings in the IPL and was coaching South Australia, including Adelaide strikers, for the last four years.
