“The PCB went out and made some changes after that Test match,” Gillespie said before the third Test. “It was decided that a new selection committee would come and they would make decisions. I wasn’t involved in the decision-making, I was just there. Now I’m just the coach in the game-day strategy. I just follow. “Now leave things and concentrate in the players and prepare them for cricket.
This is a noticeably different transition from the only one given to Gillespie when the job was presented to him before this time. At the time, he told ESPNcricinfo that he had some “really positive conversations” with the board and the president to be sure that “we are moving in the right direction in the short, medium and long term.”
When asked about the group’s makeup, Gillespie repeated the point. “It’s not my place to talk about that now. I’m not a coach anymore, so I’m probably not the person to ask.” Cornered into a job with a much more narrow focus than his initial description of activity suggested, he noted that he understood how strange his reputation was. “I’m getting splinters in my butt from sitting here on the fence,” he joked.
But with a possible victory against England in the series, the virtue of the overall Test was no longer misplaced for Gillespie. In his brief time as a teacher, he has developed relationships with several players on the team, paying as much tribute to their qualities as human beings as to their cricketing skills.
“In recent years, Pakistan Test cricket has not been where we would like it to be. Any win is great and any series win is fantastic. Coming into this environment, as a coach, I am very protective of the players. “They’re the ones that go out and represent their country. I guess there’s a father in me that goes out and I want to protect all the kids from all the outside noise and whatever.”
When England responded, they made brilliant paintings of the spinners in the first 40 overs, and stood poised for a major hold in the first innings as they stood at 211 for two. But in the dry embers of Speed 2, Sajid Khan slowed down the match, found the difficult and caused a knockdown that helped Pakistan accelerate a decisive 75-run stand.
“There are a lot of things in professional sports that you can’t control,” Gillespie said. “Being able to just park that and not focus on that is a skill in itself. Focusing on what we can control, the right things at the right times and staying calm when everything is happening. The way England played, They looked like I think we did very well in the last Test match. I was very proud of the boys.
“You are in touch with your players frequently, talking about their games and how we can help them become stronger as cricketers and as a population. I am very lucky, they have given me a wonderful support staff who have made some progress in In fact, the “Good relationships with our players and players will gravitate toward certain coaches from time to time, but if everyone functions as a team, that’s probably the most notable factor.”
