Jason Gillespie has revealed he felt the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not want him as coach.

The former Australian fast bowler took the reins of Pakistan’s Test team in April and led it to a 2-1 series victory over England in October. 

But Gillespie stepped down from the role last week ahead of Pakistan’s Test series in South Africa.

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Speaking to ABC Sport during the lunch break of Australia’s third Test against India — his first interview since resigning from the role — Gillespie said the communication between him and the PCB was not clear, and the sacking of high-performance coach Tim Neilsen ultimately led to his resignation. 

“There were certainly challenges,” he said.

“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 really want me to do this job or not.'”

Gillespie said the communication he had received about Neilsen and the team’s performance had been positive, adding to his frustration. 

“I developed a really close relationship with the test captain, Shan Masood, and felt we were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well,” he said.

“All the feedback that I’d got or the feedback the PCB got was just how effective, you know, Tim had been in his role as well and the players were getting a lot out of him.”

Pakistan lost the first Test against India by an innings and 47 runs, before turning it around in terrific fashion to claim the three-match series. 

Gillespie said following the loss in the first Test against England, he was part of a group text message which said there would be a new selection panel. He was not part of it. 

Former South Africa player Gary Kirsten resigned as the white ball coach earlier in the year, with Gillespie taking charge of the side that defeated Australia in a 50-over series but lost the T20 series at the start of the summer.

But he said he felt his role as a coach diminishing, and alluded to not knowing the team he had the day before a match. 

“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.”

Aqib Javed has been named as the interim Test coach of Pakistan.

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