Former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten, who coached India to the 2011 ODI World Cup win, revealed that a quick realisation of how he wasn’t going to have much influence as Pakistan’s white-ball coach forced him to step down.

Kirsten was appointed as Pakistan’s white-ball coach in April 2024, the same time when Jason Gillespie became the Test team head coach. But just six months into his job, Kirsten resigned from the role. Months later, Gillespie, who was the coach when Pakistan won the ODI series in Australia, quit the team’s coaching staff.

“It was a tumultuous few months. I realised quite quickly I wasn’t going to have much of an influence. Once I was taken off selection and asked to take a team and not be able to shape the team, it became very difficult as a coach then to have any sort of positive influence on the group,” Kirsten said on the Wisden Podcast.