‘I want a squad mentality’: Pakistan’s new head coach asks for more commitment from players

Pakistan cricket has struggled with inconsistency and underwhelming performances ever since they reached the T20 World Cup final in 2022. Their perrformances in Test have plummeted and are ranked at 6th in ICC’s Test rankings.

Considering their torrid period in Cricket over the last couple of years, the Pakistan Cricket board have revamped their coaching scenery and hired former Australian Pacer Jason Gillespie as the new head coach for Tests and Gary Kirsten is the new head coach for white ball.

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Jason Gillespie asks for more commitment

Pakstan’s new red ball head coach Jason Gillespie has made it clear that for Pakistan Cricket to progress there needs to be a squad mentality among the group. So expect a tonne of rotations and work load management.

“We can't rely on the same 11 players to play day in and day out all year, we need to make sure that we've got a squad mentality.I don't want players going in 70 per cent ready for a Test match. I'd rather want them to be at their very best to give them the best chance to perform well for Pakistan, which is really important to me", said Jason Gillespie to Geo News Network.

Gillespie has further confirmed that he will be working in tandems with white ball coach Gary Kirsten to maximise the team’s potential and manage the work loads.

“Workload management is my priority because it is important to not burn out the players”, said Gillespie.

Gillespie additionally confirmed that his key focus is preserving multi format players and avoid burnouts so as to maximise their performances.

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“We'll also make sure that we're looking after all our players, particularly our multi-format players, we need to be really careful that we don't burn them out because we want them playing at their very best for Pakistan each and every time they step out onto the park”, said Gillespie.

Gillespie will also be spending some time in Pakistan and analyse how the domestic culture works and get a feel of the cricket culture.

"I want to get a feel of the domestic structure in Pakistan and the players involved and performing in domestic events. I'll be spending a bit of time in Pakistan and observing players in a domestic environment."
The first assignment for Jason Gillespie as the head coach of Pakistan’s Test team will be the two match series against Bangladesh.

(With PTI Inputs)