- Australian great Jason Gillespie’s stylish act is going viral
- Former fast bowler now coaching Pakistan men’s team
Footage of Australian fast bowler great Jason Gillespie cleaning up after the Pakistan cricket team left the country’s fans red-faced.
Gillespie, 49, is the coach of Pakistan’s national Test team, which is currently one of the toughest fixtures in world sport.
A cricket powerhouse for decades, Pakistan has had a disastrous run in both red-ball and white-ball cricket for several years.
Gillespie, who took charge of the Pakistan Test team in April, has his work cut out for him, with some players in the team criticized for attitude problems.
This was highlighted on Tuesday when Gillespie was seen picking up the rubbish left by his players after their training session in Rawalpindi.
Embarrassed Pakistani cricket fans have taken to social media to say the clip says a lot about their national team.
One fan posted on X: ‘Gillespie collected the empty bottles left by the Pakistani players after the practice session. It’s just a small thing, but it shows the mentality of our players. Cleaning up after yourself seems to be considered a menial task. Learn some basic manners.
Another fan wrote: ‘It’s heartbreaking to see the state of Pakistan’s cricket infrastructure. When head coach Jason Gillespie is picking up trash due to a lack of custodial staff. And the interesting thing is that to avoid that embarrassment they called it humility.’
A video of Australian cricket great Jason Gillespie performing a classy act has gone viral
A third posted: “This tells you everything you need to know about Jason Gillespie and also a lot about Pakistan’s players.” It doesn’t take much to pick up trash and show respect to the ground crew. “Pakistan players are obviously considered too important.”
Another replied: ‘To be honest, it has to do with the whole subcontinent. We are a fairly classist society in which people who do “menial” jobs are not considered worth spending time on.
Gillespie has said the Pakistan coaching job is his biggest challenge yet as he looks to pull the national team out of its tailspin.
The team will face a big challenge when they take on world champions Australia in a one-day series starting on November 4.
The team’s former coach, Australian Micky Arthur, says Pakistan does not lack talent.
“There are some incredible players (in the Pakistan side), but what the team lacks is stability,” Arthur told Al Jazeera.
“Stability comes from the top: in team selection, consistency in player roles and making sure each player understands their role,” he explained.
‘The instability within Pakistan cricket creates chaos, and players eventually start playing for themselves because they don’t know what the next regime has in mind. It generates mediocrity.”