Ramiz on Kirsten’s departure: ‘Not going to be easy for Pakistan to hire international talent’

Former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja believes the hasty departure of Gary Kirsten could impact Pakistan’s ability to attract high-profile international coaching candidates in the future.

Pakistan cricket descended into familiar tumult when Kirsten on Monday resigned as the head coach of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I sides. He was six months into a two-year contract and departed on the eve of Pakistan’s white-ball tour of Australia.

Kirsten, who was at the helm of India’s triumph at the 2011 World Cup, leaves his role without having coached Pakistan in a single ODI.

Even by PCB standards, the public struggles have been messy and threaten to deter prospective international coaches. Prominent candidates Shane Watson and Darren Sammy had previously been sounded out earlier this year before turning down offers to coach the national team.

“When you search for international coaches, with the kind of backlash that you will probably get from Gary Kirsten’s resignation…it’s not going to be an easy, straightforward job for Pakistan to hire international talent,” Ramiz told reporters in a media interaction ahead of the Australia tour.

“What you need to do is to make sure that once you involve and engage somebody, you’ve got to give them clarity regarding the role.

“I don’t know whether that clarity was given to Gary Kirsten or how he wanted to get Pakistan into this one-day phase, what he wanted to achieve. I’m not privy to that.

“It’s not great news [Kirsten’s departure] because Pakistan needed an experienced hand. From a distance, it doesn’t look great just before a tour.”

A rift had developed between Kirsten and Jason Gillespie, Pakistan’s newly-minted Test coach, and the PCB since the board decided to strip them of selection powers after Pakistan’s first Test defeat against England.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Gillespie, who will fill the shoes of Kirsten on the tour of Australia, has also been left thoroughly unimpressed by the recent changes. A new selection panel – a third in three months – was formed and, in an unusual development, included umpire Aleem Dar.

“I don’t know about an umpire being a selector, so the jury is still out,” Ramiz said. “I still believe there’s a strong role for a leader in cricket. You can’t run cricket from the sidelines. The leader has to be made accountable and the only way to make him accountable is to give him some powers.”

Pakistan will arrive in Australia with not only a fresh white-ball coach in Gillespie, but also with Mohammad Rizwan taking the captaincy reins following Babar Azam’s recent resignation.

It looms as a tough initiation for Rizwan, who will lead a relatively inexperienced squad for a trio of ODIs and T20Is against Australia.

“He’s got his chance and what he needs to do is to stamp his authority and maybe get the players that he wants,” Ramiz said of Rizwan. “Right now, there’s a little bit of hodgepodge where the selection committee is nominating the playing XI. I’m not too sure it happens anywhere else in the world.

“I just hope Rizwan gets his playing XI that he feels comfortable with.”

Having been widely lambasted for antagonising Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood during a television interview following the England series, Ramiz called for “quiet and calm” within Pakistan cricket.

“I think it’s important for all the stakeholders to understand the value of a non controversial start to what appears to be an extremely heavyweight calendar,” he said.

“I just hope things are on the mend. I think Pakistan clearly were on a desperate mode against England, and thankfully the series was won. I just hope they carry this momentum forward even though it’s a different format.

“But it’s [Pakistan cricket] a difficult terrain, it’s a difficult area to govern because things happen very quickly.”

Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth