LAHORE: National selection committee member Aaqib Javed has been handed the additional responsibility as Pakis­tan’s white-ball head coach until next year’s ICC Champions Trophy, the country’s cricket board announced on Monday.

Aaqib will temporarily fill in the role left vacant by Gary Kirsten, who resigned just seven months into the job on Oct. 29 following differences with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie, therefore, will be able to shift his focus back to his primary responsibility after having coached Pakistan in the One-day International and T20I series.

While Aaqib, who enjoys the status of the national side’s de facto chief selector — after emerging as the mastermind behind the side’s 2-1 Test series win over England last month — looks after the white-ball teams, the PCB will search for a new head coach.

“… the PCB will initiate the recruitment process for a permanent white-ball head coach, aiming to complete the appointment by the end of the ICC Champions Trophy,” the board said in a statement.

After the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to be held in Pakistan from February 19 to March 9, Aaqib will be “assigned additional responsibilities”, added the PCB.

The board said Gillespie will rejoin the side for the upcoming two-Test series in South Africa, although speculations are rife that the tour will be the former Australian’s final assignment in the role.

Pakistan are scheduled to play three ODIs and three T20Is in Zimbabwe (November 24 — Dece­mber) and as many white-ball matches in South Africa (December 10-22).

Pakistan will host New Zealand and South Africa for an ODI triangular series from February 8-14 in the lead up to the Champions Trophy, while the tournament’s fate hangs in the balance with India having refused to cross the border for it.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2024