'Completely Humiliated': Jason Gillespie Rips Into PCB, Cites Tim Nielsen Sacking As Last Straw In Coaching Exit

Looking back at his curtailed eight-month tenure as Pakistan head coach, Jason Gillespie on New Year's Day (January 1, 2026) minced no words in voicing his discontent with the the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The legendary Australia fast bowler said the sacking of Tim Nielsen as high performance red-ball coach was one of several issues with the PCB which left him “completely humiliated”.

The board had appointed Gillespie as Pakistan's chief Test coach in April 2024, and South African great Gary Kirsten was roped in for a similar role in white-ball formats. But Kirsten’s resignation in October was followed by Gillespie’s in December, when Nielsen was communicated by the PCB that his services would not be needed before the tour of South Africa 2024-25.

Nielsen, former head coach of the Australian team, was selected as the high performance red-ball coach in August 2024.

"I was coaching the Pakistan Test side. The PCB sacked our senior assistant coach with ZERO communication with me about it- as Head Coach I found this situation completely unacceptable,” Gillespie wrote on social media platform 'X' (formerly Twitter) when asked by a user about why he had left his role with the Pakistan Test team. "There were a number of other issues which left me completely humiliated," he added.

Nielsen’s sacking before Pakistan’s tour of South Africa was likely the final blow to a swiftly worsening relationship between Gillespie and the PCB, which ended with him refusing to board the flight from Adelaide to South Africa and eventually resigning.

In between his resignation and the exit of Kirsten, Gillespie had also served as the interim white-ball coach. Gillespie was succeeded by former Pakistan cricketer Aaqib Javed across formats, who was also serving on the selection panel.

While he was with the Pakistan team, Gillespie felt he was “completely and utterly blindsided” by the PCB.

He told ABC Sport, "There were certainly challenges. I went into the job eyes wide open, I want to make that really clear. I knew that, you know, Pakistan had cycled through a number of coaches in a pretty short space of time.

"The straw that broke the camel's back, I suppose, was, as a head coach, you like to have clear communication with your employer. I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach. Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that.

"And I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was probably the moment where I thought, 'Well, I'm not really sure if they actually want me to do this job or not’."

Gillespie even went to the extent of saying that he felt his job was reduced to giving players catching practice before matches. “I felt I was basically hitting catches and that was about it on the morning of a game,” he said.

"You want to be able to have clear communication with all stakeholders, with selectors, for instance, knowing what the team is as head coach well before the game, or before at least the day before the game,” Gillespie added.

As per ESPNCricinfo, Gillespie and PCB are locked in a financial dispute, with the former coach claiming he was not paid his dues while the board claims he did not serve a four-month notice period according to their contract.

(With PTI inputs)