Pakistan cricket in turmoil as Gillespie tells Aaqib Javed to 'look in the mirror'

Pakistan's tour of England has descended into chaos, with a former team coach publicly accusing the country's chief selector of erratic, poorly communicated decision-making after a wave of sackings that followed two heavy Test defeats.

What triggered the shake-up

After consecutive losses to England, the Pakistan Cricket Board moved quickly and dramatically: head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and pace-bowling chief Umar Gul were both removed, and seven players were sent home from the tour entirely. Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke have since been brought in to lead the team through the remainder of the series, a mid-tour change of command that rarely signals a settled dressing room.

Gillespie's blunt assessment

Jason Gillespie, who coached Pakistan's Test side in 2024 and guided them to a 2-1 series win over England during his tenure, did not hold back in comments to The Australian. He said chairman of selectors Aaqib Javed needs to "look at himself in the mirror," accusing him of lacking a clear strategy and making decisions with little consistency. His sharpest line captured the mood directly: "They change their mind like they change their pants, daily."

A captain learning his fate from the news

Among Gillespie's specific criticisms was how captain Salman Ali Agha was treated during the series. Agha was removed from the team mid-series without what Gillespie described as clear communication from the board, prompting the former coach to ask pointedly how a player could go "from captaining the team, to out of the team, and on the plane home" with so little explanation given. Gillespie also noted that some players reportedly learned of their dismissal through media reports rather than being informed directly by team management, a breakdown in communication that has become a recurring complaint about how Pakistan cricket handles its personnel decisions.

The damage on the scoreboard

The results on the field go some way to explaining the board's panic, even if they don't excuse the process. Pakistan suffered an innings-and-103-run defeat at Headingley, followed by a 194-run loss at Lord's, two lopsided results against an England side that has left little room for excuses. The third Test at Edgbaston, scheduled for September 9, now arrives with a patched-together coaching staff and a squad missing seven of the players who started the tour.

Gillespie isn't alone

The criticism has not come from Gillespie in isolation. Former captains Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik have both weighed in publicly, alongside former head coach Mickey Arthur, all describing the situation in similarly blunt terms as "absolutely ridiculous." When multiple former captains and coaches converge on the same criticism within days of each other, it suggests the frustration extends well beyond one disgruntled former employee.

What it says about Pakistan cricket's structure

The episode fits a familiar pattern in Pakistan cricket, where administrative upheaval often follows poor results faster than any considered review of what actually went wrong on the field. Sacking a head coach and a bowling chief mid-tour, while sending seven players home, addresses the optics of accountability but does little to fix the underlying selection and communication problems Gillespie is describing.

With the third Test now just days away and a new coaching pair parachuted in to steady the ship, Pakistan's immediate task is damage control on the pitch. The larger question, whether the PCB's decision-making culture changes at all once the series ends, is one Gillespie's comments suggest very few insiders expect to be answered differently this time.