Pakistan Coach Unhappy Despite ODI Series Win vs Australia, Reason Is India

Pakistan, on Sunday, achieved a historic high as the team defeated Australia in an ODI series. This was Pakistan’s first ODI series win in Australia after 22 years. In the series decider at Perth, Pakistan shot out Australia for 140, before hunting down the total with eight wickets in hand to win the series 2-1. Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie was happy with the team’s show but also said the ODI Series was not promoted in Australia at all.

“To be honest I pretty much saw no promotion of our one-day series by Cricket Australia, which was a bit of a surprise,” Jason Gillespie was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald. 

“It’s pretty obvious that they’re prioritising 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.

“The fact it was behind the paywall as well probably limited the amount of advertising and interest in the series. The timing of it … it’s really difficult for administrators to schedule all the cricket in. But it has felt from Pakistan’s perspective that based on selections and promotion of the series that their priorities have been India. Everyone can see that, it’s pretty obvious.”

He also said Pakistan was aware it had a strong chance of winning in Perth as Australia rested captain Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne to freshen up and prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“We knew that there was probably going to be some change, knowing what Australia have coming up. You always thought at the back of your mind were they going to send the big quicks over to Perth to play one 50-over game.

“We anticipated that, and that’s the nature of modern cricket and it’s up to selectors and coaches to manage their players as best they can. Australia chose to do that. It was pretty obvious that this three-match one-day series wasn’t the highest of priorities for Australia.

“All we can do as Pakistan is play against the opposition that’s presented and we did that really well. It was pleasing not just to beat Australia but beat them pretty convincingly. The reality is we should have won the first game as well,” elaborated Gillespie.

With IANS inputs