Basit Ali, the ex-cricketer revealed that Gary Kirsten was not happy with the appointment of Mohammad Rizwan as Pakistan’s white-ball captain as he was not the one who wanted to be named as the captain of the team. In the last day or so, there has been lots of activity in Pakistan cricket, ranging from Rizwan’s appointment as white-ball captain and the resignation of Kirsten as T20I and ODI coach to the appointment of Jason Gillespie as a head coach for all formats. After revising the resignation of Kirsten, revealed Basit, while speaking to media, that the said cricketer from south Africa ‘thought he had full power’ about such decisions and did not want to see a player from the current limited overs playing squad leading Pakistan.
“It all started when Rizwan was made captain. Kirsten wanted a different player to lead, someone who wasn’t in the current side. And he thought he had full authority, forgetting that in this country, the PCB chairman can change overnight,” Basit disclosed on his YouTube channel.
When the PCB revealed the squads for the Australia and Zimbabwe series, Rizwan was promoted to the new captain of Pakistan white-ball teams, succeeding Babar Azam.
The veteran wicketkeeper will now captain the team in the white-ball format and Salam Ali Agha is appointed as his vice captain for the upcoming away tours.
Within 24 hours after Rizwan was appointed, the PCB announced that Kirsten had resigned, thus bringing to an end his six-month stint in Pakistan without even coaching the team in an ODI – a format he is well-versed in.
Kirsten’s primary focus would have been the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 to be hosted in the West Indies and the USA, an event in which Pakistan was unfortunately knocked out in the group stage after registering defeats to both India and the USA.