Gary Kirsten: The man with an exemplary career on and off the field
Gary Kirsten is a former South African Cricketer-turned coach known for his exemplary coaching career. Kirsten is regarded as one of the finest cricket coaches and an exemplary cricketer. Kirsten has previously worked as the Head Coach of the Indian National Cricket Team and the South African cricket team. He had a prolific cricketing career and is still the mastermind behind multiple national and regional teams.
Let us know more about the cricketing gem who had a scintillating professional career:
Gary Kirsten Biography
Gary Kirsten was born on 23rd November 1967 in Cape Town in South Africa. He is popularly known as Gazza. Kirsten’s father Noel also played professionally cricket in his youth. He has three brothers namely Paul, Peter and Andrew.
Gary Kirsten completed his education at the Rondebosch CSH College under the University of Cape Town. Kirsten developed a deep interest in cricket at a very young age and started to play for the Western Province at a very tender age.
Cricket Career
Gary Kirsten made his debut for South Africa on 14th December 1993 against Australia in a One-Day International. His Test debut came against the same opposition in a Boxing Day Test match on 26th December 1993.
Over his incredible 11-year longs cricketing career, Kirsten represented South Africa in 101 Test matches and 185 ODIs. He has scored 7,289 runs in the red-ball format with a stunning average of 45.27 and 21 centuries against his name. Similarly, he scored 6,798 runs in the white-ball format with a thumping average of 40.95 and 13 centuries against his name.
He also has a phenomenal record in the domestic circuit as well where he has scored 16,670 runs in 221 First-Class matches and 9,586 runs in 294 List-A games. Kirsten was also regarded as one of the finest fielders as he was super energetic and athletic on the field.
Gary Kirsten 188
Interestingly, Gary Kirsten was a part of South Africa’s victorious campaign at the ICC Knockout Trophy 1998. This is the only ICC trophy that has been bagged by South Africa. Kirsten also holds the record of smashing the highest score by any Proteas batsman in the history of the World Cup. He smashed a scintillating 188-run knock against UAE in the 1996 World Cup.
Gary Kirsten had become the first South African batsman to score a century against all 9 Test-playing nations. He held the record of the highest individual score of 275 against England until it was surpassed by Graeme Smith (277) in 2003. Kirsten has smashed a plethora of runs in his magnificent career and was a highly bankable batsman.
Coaching Career
Gary Kirsten retired from all forms of cricket in 2005. He later opened his own cricket academy in South Africa in November 2007. After the inauguration of his academy, reports emerged that Kirsten is the frontrunner for the Head Coach position of the Indian national cricket team.
Indian Cricket Team
The Board of Cricket for India (BCCI) offered Kirsten a two-year contract. He joined the Indian camp in March 2008. Kirsten’s initial assignments were successful as India encountered historic victories in Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Gary Kirsten played an instrumental role in developing the performance of Indian batters. India’s batting attack turned out to be robust under the mentorship of Gary. Ahead of the ICC World Cup 2011, Indian skipper M.S Dhoni stated that Gary Kirsten is the best thing that ever happened to Indian cricket.
Interestingly, Gary’s prolific coaching helped India to clinch the ICC World Cup title in 2011. India was hosting the championship and seized the trophy on their home side after 28 years. Kirsten was known to be the mastermind for India’s victory and Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina carried him on the shoulders after the final at Wankhede as a mark of respect to the veteran.
Gary Kirsten stepped down from the position of India’s Head Coach after the World Cup due to personal reasons. Gary wanted to spend time with his growing children and stated that three years away from home was enough for him.
South African Coaching Career
Gary Kirsten was appointed as the Head Coach of the South African national team as soon as he arrived back from India. His first decision as the coach was interesting as he appointed AB de Villiers as the Captain of the white-ball teams and Graeme Smith continued to remain as the Test captain.
Under his coaching stint, South Africa reached the No. 1 position in the Test rankings. Notably, Gary Kirsten did not renew his contract with South Africa and stepped down citing family commitments.
Gary Kirsten took a brief break from cricket coaching from 2014 to 2017. He then took over responsibility for Hobart Hurricanes at the Big Bash League 2017-18.
Gary Kirsten IPL
Gary Kirsten was appointed as Royal Challengers Bangalore Batting Coach in 2018. He was then named as the Head Coach ahead of the 2019 season as former coach Daniel Vettori was sacked from his position. Kirsten stepped down after RCB’s failure in the 2019 edition.
Gary Kirsten then took over as the Head Coach of the Karachi Kings franchise in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) from 2020 to 2022.
Ahead of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League, Gary Kirsten signed a contract as the Head Coach of the newly introduced Gujarat Titans franchise. Interestingly, Gujarat Titans clinched the IPL title in their maiden season. Furthermore, Gujarat emerged as the runners-up in the recently concluded 2023 edition.
Gary Kirsten’s role in the upliftment and encouragement of Gujarat Titans members who displayed a stellar performance.
Business Interests
Gary Kirsten had formed his own company named Performance Zone alongside Paddy Upton and Dale Williams. The company focused on working with individuals and teams to develop and boost their best performance to bring out the best.
After Gary’s appointment as India’s Head Coach and the 2011 World Cup, Kirsten and Upton streamlined the business and founded garykirsten.com.
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