Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for losing their white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten. Notably, Kirsten recently resigned from his position ahead of their tour to Australia within just six months of his appointment.

PCB had appointed him on a two-year contract in April 2024 and he was with the team during their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign where they were knocked out in the first stage itself after embarrassing losess vs India and USA. Sharing his thoughts on Gary Kirsten’s resignation, Pietersen slammed Pakistan Cricket Board for losing his services given his stature in the fraternity due to his achievements.

“How can Pakistan Cricket lose Gary Kirsten with his resume in coaching? One step forward the last few weeks and two steps back today! Stop doing it to yourself. Too much talent to keep doing this kind of stuff!” the former right-hand batter wrote on X.

Notably, Kirsten guided India to their second ODI World Cup triumph in 2011 and also coached South Africa to become number one Test team in 2012. Meanwhile, following Kirsten’s resignation, Test head coach Jason Gillespie will be coaching the team on the white-ball tour to Australia set to begin November 4 where Pakistan will play three ODIs and as many T20Is.

Mohammad Rizwan becomes new white-ball skipper

“The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced Jason Gillespie will coach the Pakistan men’s cricket team on next month’s white-ball tour of Australia after Gary Kirsten submitted his resignation, which was accepted,” read the statement from PCB.

Pakistan recently announced Mohammed Rizwan as their new white-ball skipper replacing Babar Azam. Babar led the team in the ODI World Cup 2023 where Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi final and stepped down as the captain from all three formats.

However, he was reinstated as white-ball skipper in March 2024 with Shaheen Afridi being removed from his position as T20I captain after losing 1-4 against New Zealand. However, Babar’s return didn’t go well as Pakistan didn’t have a memorable time in T20 World Cup which made Babar resign from his position earlier this month.