Pakistan’s head coach Jason Gillespie has confirmed his new role as a “match day strategist”, clarifying that his duties as a selector have been removed.
Gillespie was appointed Pakistan’s red-ball coach earlier this year. He also had the additional role of a selector, with skipper Shan Masood having a say in the team selections as well. Alongside those responsibilities, he also consulted with the selection committee to finalise Pakistan’s squad for the England Test series last month.
However, following an innings defeat in Multan, which extended their winless streak at home to 11 games, there were several changes made in the Pakistan cricket set-up. Aleem Dar, Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali were brought in as new members of the selection panel, joining Asad Shafiq, Hassan Cheema and the captain and coach, who were already a part of the committee.
The first major decision the new group of selectors took was to drop Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the squad for the second Test, a move that seemingly worked as Pakistan reversed their fortunes with a win in Multan.
Gillespie, however, has confirmed that he is no longer a part of the selection committee, with reports last week also suggesting that Masood’s powers have been curtailed. A reliable source in the PCB had told PTI: “The playing XI for the second Test (against England) has been finalised after consulting Shan and Gillispie, but, like until the first Test, they no longer have final say in the selection of the playing XI.
“It appears after the first Test defeat in Multan the PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi decided to give complete authority to the revamped national selection committee.”
Gillespie confirms new role as “match day strategist”
Ahead of the third Test, Gillespie said: “The PCB came out and made some changes after that [first] Test match. It was decided that a new selection panel would come in and that they would be making the decisions. I am now the coach for match-day strategy. I keep out of things now and focus on getting the players ready for cricket.”
Gillespie agreed to a question that his new role was not the job he signed up for and that he is getting “splinters in his arse for sitting on the fence.”
“It’s not something for me to talk about now. I’m not a selector, I’m a match-day strategist as head coach. My focus is on the players, I’ll let the selectors do their job. “I’m getting splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence here.”
Pakistan have named an unchanged side while England have made two changes for the third Test, beginning in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
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