"No communication" — Jason Gillespie slams Aaqib Javed over Pakistan's selection chaos

The former head coach of the Pakistan side, Jason Gillespie, blamed the chairman of the selectors, Aaqib Javed, as he accused the country’s cricket setup of lacking a clear selection strategy and leaving players in a state where they would always play with fear, which never allows them to be free in their mindset.

Gillespie coached the Pakistan side for eight months in 2024. He reckoned that Javed would need to take a look in the mirror after their dramatic chaos in the middle of the three-match Test series against England, where they replaced seven players from the squad of the first two Tests. 

Gillespie says Javed's selectors "change their mind like they change their pants"

Gillespie pointed to the treatment of Salman Agha as an example of uncertainty. The all-rounder captained the side in the opening Test at Headingley before being dropped from the XI for the second Lord’s Test, followed by his removal from the squad ahead of the third Edgbaston Test.

“I feel for the players; this is these guys' livelihoods. From the outside, it looks like they are playing with fear. Salman Ali Agha goes from captaining the team in the first Test against England to being out of the team for the second Test and on the plane home before the third Test. How does that work?” Gillespie expressed on Code Sports.

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The former Australian player highlighted the critical selection of Javed as he claimed that Pakistan won’t have a settled strategy and change their plans regularly. He questioned the communication between the selection committee and the players.

“It's pretty clear they don't have a selection strategy at all, particularly under Aaqib Javed. They change their mind like they change their pants – daily. Aaqib Javed came out recently and blamed Gary Kirsten and me for everything that is going on. Aaqib has been the chairman of selectors for the past two years. We haven't even been there.” Gillespie addressed.

“There is definitely no communication between Aaqib Javed, who is meant to be chairman of selectors, and the players. The players who were sacked heard it through family and friends and the media that they had been sacked. How disrespectful is that?” He added.

Inside Pakistan's shock axing of 7 players and 2 coaches after back-to-back Test defeats

Pakistan, during the first two Tests of the series against England, failed to cross 200 runs in the four innings, which remains their biggest issue. It was the same situation during their two-match Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean.

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It pushed the board to remove their head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul from their positions and called their white-ball coach, Mike Hesson, from Pakistan for the third encounter of the series at Edgbaston.

Pakistan’s updated squad vs England for third Test-

Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicket-keeper), Razaullah, Saad Baig (wicket-keeper), Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.