Ricky Ponting: “He will have some challenges I got no doubt about it. But he is a deep thinker and as I said, a quiet person that goes about it in his own way”
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Legendary Australia captain and batsman Ricky Ponting has no doubt that Jason Gillespie “will have some challenges” as Pakistan red-ball head coach, but still backed the 49-year-old to do a great job.
He noted that Gillespie has enjoyed a lot of success wherever he has coached and pointed out that he sees a lot of similarities between the former Australia fast bowler and India head coach Gautam Gambhir.
However, what stands out for Ponting when it comes to Gillespie is the fact that he goes about things “his own way”.
“Jason Gillespie is a bit like Gautam Gambhir. Pretty much everywhere he has been, his coaching record has been very, very good. He will have some challenges I got no doubt about it. But he is a deep thinker and as I said, a quiet person that goes about it in his own way,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“We’ve got a few WhatsApp groups over the years, all of us old guys that have played together. So everyone’s congratulated him (Gillespie) and wished him luck in that role.”
The Pakistan team recently featured in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they were knocked out in the group stage.
Gillespie is now coaching the men in green in their ongoing two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
Pakistan lost the first Test by 10 wickets and will look to end the series as a 1-1 draw in the second Test, which begins on August 30 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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