Jason Gillespie has resigned from his role as Pakistan’s Test head coach, with Aqib Javed appointed as his interim replacement the Pakistan Cricket Board have confirmed.
Aqib’s first assignment with the red-ball team will be the upcoming two-Test tour of South Africa, which begins with the Boxing Day Test in Centurion from December 26.
Gillespie was hired by the PCB, alongside Gary Kirsten as white-ball coach, in April earlier this year. Kirsten quit his role in October, with Aqib also taking over that team in an interim capacity last month.
Gillespie, who also had stints as a head coach in county cricket, with Yorkshire (2012-2016) and Sussex (2018-2020), led Pakistan to a comeback 2-1 Test series win over England in October.
During that series, however, the former Australia fast bowler did voice frustrations over not being involved in the selection process of the side.
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During Pakistan’s Test series against England in October, Jason Gillespie spoke to Sky Sports about the PCB’s shake-up in team selection matters
“No, I’m not [a selector]. It wasn’t what I signed up for, I’ll be honest,” Gillespie told Sky Sports. “But this is one of those situations where you just need to go with the flow.
“I’m in a different environment and things are done differently. One can agree or disagree with how things are done.
“Ultimately, I’m here to help the Pakistan team do better and improve and so I put my focus and energy into that.”
According to ESPNcricinfo, Gillespie was unhappy with not being consulted over the PCB’s decision not to renew the contract of high-performance red-ball coach Tim Nielsen.
There was said to be limited communication between Gillespie and the PCB since the end of Pakistan’s white-ball tour of Australia last month.
With growing uncertainty over Gillespie’s future, the PCB put out a statement in November denying his job was under immediate threat, before confirming his resignation on December 12.
