Jason Gillespie says Aaqib Javed is 'clown'

Pakistan's former coach Jason Gillespie called interim head coach Aaqib Javed "a clown," accusing him of undermining him behind the scenes.

In an Instagram Story on Wednesday, Gillespie said that he was undermined before his resignation from the post of Pakistan coach in December.

The former coach made these remarks in response to the statement of Javed, in which he mentioned: “We changed 16 coaches in the last 2.5 years and 26 selectors, if you do this to any team around the world, their performance will be like this too.”

Gillespie implied that Javed was responsible for his and Gary Kirsten’s removal as coaches.

“This is hilarious. Aaqib was clearly undermining Gary and I behind the scenes, campaigning to be the coach in all formats. He is a clown,” he wrote in his social media post.

Meanwhile, Javed made this comment in relation to the recent “poor performance” of the Pakistani team in the Champions Trophy 2025.

It is important to note that Gillespie resigned ahead of the South Africa Test series.

His decision came after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided against renewing red-ball assistant coach Tim Nielsen's contract, prompting the latter to take early retirement.

Earlier in December, Australian coach disclosed that a lack of clarity over High-Performance Coach Tim Nielsen’s position played a crucial role in his resignation.

“I was completely unaware of the decision not to retain Tim Nielsen,” Gillespie stated, adding: "This situation, along with past incidents, made me question whether I was truly needed. Not informing the head coach about such a major decision compelled me to think this way."

Following his resignation, Javed was named as interim red-ball head coach by the PCB.

Moreover, earlier in November, 2024, Javed was also appointed as interim white-ball head coach.

In a recent press conference, the Pakistan coach reflected on the team’s performance in the Champions Trophy tournament and said: “No excuse, Pakistan team did not play well”.

The Pakistan team was eliminated from the tournament that it is hosting very early after facing two consistent defeats from New Zealand and India.