Legendary Australian captain and batter Ricky Ponting said that his former teammate Jason Gillespie is a “deep thinker” and backed him to do fine as the red-ball coach of the Pakistan men’s team. In April 2024, Gillespie was appointed as the head coach of Pakistan red-ball side. Gillespie will take charge for the ICC World Test Championship fixtures against Bangladesh (at home starting from August 21), followed by Tests against England (at home in October) and South Africa (away in December) in the 2024-25 season.

Speaking on ICC review, Ponting compared the former pacer to current Indian team head coach and former opener Gautam Gambhir.

“Jason Gillespie is a bit like 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,” said Gillespie.

“We have 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. And look, to be honest, I am not surprised at all by the amount of changes in that group. I know it is a different format but they had a very disappointing T20 World Cup. If you are not willing to make some changes, you are expecting similar results to come your way,” he added.

In his coaching career, the former Australian pacer has coached several sides in different capacities, like Indian Premier League (IPL) Punjab Kings, Big Bash League (BBL) side Adelaide Strikers, England counties Yorkshire and Sussex, South Australia etc.

Pakistan’s Test series against Bangladesh will begin on August 21 in Rawalpindi. Meanwhile, Saud Shakeel has been named as the new Pakistan Test vice-captan ahead of the series.

The team have promoted Saud Shakeel to the role of vice-captain as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a 17-player squad for their two-match Test series.

Pakistan currently sits in fifth place on the ICC World Test Championship standings and will be looking for a pair of positive results against Bangladesh to remain in touch with the pacesetters of the competition, as per the ICC.

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Aamir Jamal (subject to fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Afridi.

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