New Delhi: Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi on Monday responded to the former head coach’s allegations. Gary Kirstenwho claimed that there was significant “interference” with Pakistan cricket during his brief tenure.Naqvi, while addressing a press conference at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, was asked about Kristen’s remarks. He said he had ‘limited engagement’ with Kristen during his time as coach.
“I have not had much interaction with Gary Kirsten, so it would be better if the people who were coordinating matters with him and were regularly involved with him, answer his allegations in detail,” Naqvi told reporters.Christen’s tenure as Pakistan’s head coach lasted only six months. The South African great was appointed on a two-year contract in April 2024 but resigned in October 2024.What are Kristen’s claims?In an interview with talkSPORT, Kristen spoke about the challenges during her time with the Pakistan team.“What surprised me more than anything was the level of intervention. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it at that level before. Did it surprise me? I don’t know, but it was significant,” said Kristen, speaking to Talk Support Cricket.Kristen explained that such an environment made it extremely difficult for the coach to implement plans.“It’s hard enough for a coach to come in and devise a way that you can work with players when there’s just so much noise from the outside. It was difficult, just this constant noise from the outside and a lot of punitive actions around poor performance and things like that,” he added.“As a coach, you’re the lowest-hanging fruit when the team isn’t doing well, so let’s get rid of the coach or ban the coach because that’s the easiest thing to do when teams are performing and that’s kind of counterproductive in my eyes,” Kirsten said.
