Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie expressed his frustration with the fact that Cricket Australia “prioritized” promoting the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series rather than the Australia-Pakistan ODI series. Jason Gillespie’s comments come in the aftermath of Pakistan’s 2-1 ODI series win over Australia in Australia. That was Pakistan’s first ODI series win in Australia in 22 years, with their previous triumph coming back in 2002.
The two teams will next play a three-match T20I series starting in Brisbane on Thursday (14 November), eight days before Australia’s five-match Test series against India gets underway in Perth on 22 November.
Pakistan’s stellar performance under Jason Gillespie in recent times
Pakistan crushed Australia by eight wickets in the third and final ODI to clinch the series 2-1. This was their ODI series victory Down Under since 2002 when Waqar Younis’ men won 2-1. On both occasions, Pakistan had fought back from a 1-0 deficit to triumph in the end. It’s been a good month or so for Pakistan cricket. After the whitewash to Bangladesh, they beat England in the Tests 2-1 before conquering the Aussies in their own backyard.
However, Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie is not a happy man. He is in fact ‘angry’ at India. Not directly of course, but he feels that the priority the Aussies are giving it to the Tests vs India so there was hardly any promotion of the ODIs vs Pakistan.
Jason Gillespie slams Cricket Australia for ‘prioritizing’ Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 over Pakistan ODIs
Interim Pakistan white-ball coach Jason Gillespie said he was surprised to see Cricket Australia hardly promoting the three-match ODI series against Mohammad Rizwan and Co. However, the 49-year-old understood that the board’s priorities lie in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India.
With Indian crowds’ ability to bring in massive money and the two sides set to lock horns in a five-Test rubber, Cricket Australia are eager to host them. The hosts also rested their star players for the third and final ODI of the series against Pakistan to allow them to be fresh for the Tests.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald after Pakistan’s historic series win, Gillespie has underlined that Fox Cricket does some amazing promos. This is why he was eager to see one for the 50-over series against Pakistan too. He said:
“To be honest, I pretty much saw no promotion of our one-day series by Cricket Australia, which was a bit of a surprise. It’s pretty obvious that they’re prioritizing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India because I saw no promotion of this series.
“Fox do a great job promoting but it was pretty clear to us where CA’s priorities lie. That’s their prerogative and their decision but I just didn’t see any advertising, and promotion of this one-day series at all.”
Pakistan pushed Australia close in the opening game of the series, almost defending 203. The tourists bowled the hosts out for well short of 200 in the next two ODIs to register convincing victories
“What we saw in this series is our bowling exposed some flaws in the Australian batting” – Jason Gillespie
Jason Gillespie trusts the Australian batters to come good in their next challenge after struggling against Pakistan’s bowling unit. He explained:
“What we saw in this series is our bowling exposed some flaws in the Australian batting. I’m sure the Australians will look to right some wrongs and improve some things. That’s what good players and good teams do, you learn and adjust and adapt and be ready for the next challenge. It was pleasing not just to beat Australia but beat them pretty convincingly.”
Pat Cummins pulled out of the last ODI to prepare for the India Tests which start on November 22. Australia and Pakistan will now play three T20Is from November 14 to 18 before the Aussies get ready to take on India. The focus in those three games will be on Babar Azam who needs 87 runs to surpass Rohit Sharma and become the highest run-getter in T20Is.
Australia and India will be playing five Tests, the first time since 1991-92. Australia have not beaten India in a Test series since 2014-15. India have won their last four Test series vs Australia of which two have been Down Under. Forget India vs Pakistan, move over Ashes, this is the real deal now.
India have emerged victorious on both of their previous tours of Australia (2018-19 and 2020-21) with 2-1 margins. The Rohit Sharma-led side, however, are coming into the upcoming series on the back of a 0-3 Test series loss to New Zealand at home. Ahead of the Test series against India, Australia will compete in three T20Is against Pakistan.