Jason Gillespie has voiced his frustration over being left out of Pakistan’s selection process, raising concerns about his role as head coach.
Pakistan has cycled through 26 selectors in the past three years in their effort to restore their cricketing dominance. In their victory in Multan, the team chose seven spin options and maintained the same lineup for the Rawalpindi decider.
Spinners Noman Ali and Sajid Khan were pivotal, taking all 20 wickets to level the series, though Gillespie had no role in that selection.
“I’m not involved in those decisions. The PCB has appointed selectors to handle team choices, and my focus is on match-day training and strategy,” Gillespie said. “I concentrate on preparing the players and executing the game plan.
“No, I’m not [a selector]. It’s not what I signed up for, but in these situations, you just go with the flow,” Gillespie told Sky Sports Cricket. “Things are done differently here, but my job is to help Pakistan improve, and that’s where I put my energy.”
After Pakistan’s heavy defeat by an innings and 47 runs in the first Test, significant changes were made, including the omission of star batsman Babar Azam and pace bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. Babar struggled, scoring only 30 and 5, while Afridi and Naseem also underperformed, leading to their exclusion.
“Our goal is to win more games. But beyond that, we aim to build squad depth so we don’t rely on a few players. When I joined, the focus was on developing a strong pace-bowling squad, but we’re working to improve across all areas.”
When asked about Babar’s future, Gillespie responded, “I can’t answer that because I’m not a selector.”
However, he remains confident in Babar’s return to form. “Babar is a world-class player. Every great player faces tough periods, but I’m certain he’ll bounce back and score plenty of runs for Pakistan in all formats.”