“Everyone always talks about watching some of these players play on any given day and getting mesmerised by their abilities,” he said, talking to former England cricketer Steve Harmison and broadcaster Neil Manthorp. “But the short time I’ve had in connection remotely with the team, one can pick up very quickly what the potential blockages are. And I guess it’s my role as a coach, to assist in unlocking the natural ability that they have.”
Kirsten, who takes over at a time of both on- and off-field flux for Pakistan cricket, said it was natural to expect the negativity around Pakistan cricket, suggesting the knock-on effects of poor on-field results seep into all aspects of cricket.
Following a poor ODI World Cup, Pakistan lost 3-0 in Tests to Australia and lost 4-1 in T20Is in New Zealand. Then against a weakened visiting New Zealand team, Pakistan only managed a 2-2 draw before scraping past Ireland 2-1 this week.
“He had a really thick skin by the end of his coaching career. Because you’re just trying to do as best a job you can, accepting the fact that when the team’s not doing well, there’s always going to be a whole bunch of criticism.”
“My kids are a little bit older now, which makes it slightly easier to travel, and to work with an international team of the likes of Pakistan was very appealing to me.”
Kirsten’s time with India should, in theory at least, prepare him for the administrative challenges of working with a cricket board in South Asia, and the wisdom of accepting there will be inevitable limitations on his powers. “I think my learnings over my three years with India was that there are some battles that you just absolutely not going to win. And then you just focus on the ones that you can win, and hopefully that’s enough for the team to do really well.
“It’s really important that you build relationships upwards. You need to work well with the people upstairs and within the confines of the board, and hopefully build a decent relationship so that they buy into your thinking as well.”
Kirsten on Babar: ‘Not fair to depend on one player’
“It [dependence on Babar] is not fair on any player,” Kirsten said. “He shouldn’t feel like he has to be contributing all the time to a team. I’ve been in touch with Babar. He’s done remarkably well and carries a lot of the weight of the team on his shoulders. What we will try to do as a coaching staff is to lift that a little bit and to realise he’s just one of the one of a whole group of players and that he can free himself up to play with his natural talent.
“Hopefully we see a lot more of that [the Ireland innings] kind of knock from him. I think if we can unlock that freedom, and understand that there’s a big group of guys that can make match-winning contribution, especially in T20 cricket, that’ll take a lot of pressure off him.”
“I got a phone call whilst I was at the IPL and, they asked whether I was interested. I’m always interested in an international job. It’s always just a massive privilege to be coaching in that space. I haven’t done an international job since coaching South Africa towards the end of 2013. My kids are a little bit older now, which makes it slightly easier to travel, and to work with an international team of the likes of Pakistan was very appealing to me.”
State of Test cricket ‘worries me deeply’
During Kirsten’s two-year contract, Pakistan will participate in three white-ball ICC events: the upcoming T20 World Cup, the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan, and the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. And though, he has admittedly set his sights – courtesy a PCB video – on winning one of the three events, Kirsten said he was not in favour of ICC tournaments coming thick and fast.
“Sometimes I do get concerned about the lack of context in many games. But does it mean we need to have an ICC event every year? No I think it could be dangerous to have a World Cup every year or other year because it’s always fun waiting for those events to come around.
“And we’ve got to be really careful we don’t lose Test cricket. Having Test-playing nations like South Africa playing four Tests a year worries me deeply – to think Test cricket is not so important anymore.”
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
