Gary Kirsten

After retirement, Kirsten organised his own cricket academy.[4] In November 2007, it emerged that Kirsten was a candidate for the vacant post of coach of the India team.[5] The BCCI offered him a two-year contract for the post, and despite voicing reservations[6] about concerns he had about having the full support of India players, he confirmed he would be taking the job on 4 December.[7]

He officially started as a coach on 1 March 2008. However, he travelled to Australia with India beforehand during the test series. His first full series in charge was against his home country, South Africa in March–April 2008 which was drawn 1–1. Also, he coached India to the finals of the Kitply Cup and 2008 Asia Cup (India lost both the finals). During his tenure as Coach of India, the Indian cricket team won a home series against Australia beating them 2–0. Apart from clinching the Border-Gavaskar trophy, he also coached India to its first bilateral series win in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka and India's first Test and One-Day International series victories against New Zealand in New Zealand after 40 years. India also won the Compaq Cup, defeating Sri Lanka in the finals on 14 September 2009 by 46 runs. A highly accomplished batsman himself, he has brought in a considerable amount of improvement in the batting performances, which is largely associated with his ability to instill better confidence among younger players.

Kirsten has been praised by all players for improving/enhancing their playing techniques, motivating them and discussing tactics that can be deployed on the field. The results could be clearly seen within months. He is considered the key force behind the clearly visible performance improvement in all players. In 2010, Prior to the start of India's tour of South Africa, Indian captain M.S. Dhoni described him as "The best thing to happen to Indian cricket."

In 2017, Kirsten spoke to HBR about the qualities of a great coach, coaching a young team, and learning from one's mistakes. Some edited excerpts of his interview are at Harvard Business Review Ascend.

After the tour of South Africa, which India drew 1–1 in the Test series lost 3–2 in ODIs, Kirsten announced he would not renew his contract with BCCI because of family commitments. Kirsten often stated that he wanted to spend time with his two growing sons, Joshua and James, and his wife. He has also stated that he felt three years away from home was long enough. Immediately after the announcement Kirsten was linked with joining South Africa as their coach as the South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl also announced his contract would end after the World Cup as well.[8]

Kirsten ended his tenure as coach after India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare on 2 April 2011 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.[9] During the celebration, he was carried around the ground by Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli to show their respect.

Kirsten cleared the air of any rumours about a renewal in contract by adopting a modest approach on his further availability as a coach to the Indian team by stating that he wanted to say goodbye to India to spend time with his family.

On 5 June 2011, Kirsten was appointed the full-time coach of the South Africa national cricket team for a term period of two years. His first decision was to name AB De Villiers as the new captain for the limited-overs game, replacing Graeme Smith who remains as the Test side captain. Kirsten began his term as a coach on 1 August and his first assignment was a home series against Australia. He took over from Corrie van Zyl, who was an interim coach for 14 months after Mickey Arthur resigned following the home series against England in 2009–10. Under Kirsten, in August 2012, the South African team reached number 1 in the ICC Test rankings, by defeating England 2–0.

He did not renew his contract with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and stepped down as the coach of the national team in August 2013 citing family commitments. He has been signed as the head coach of the Bangalore-based IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore for a three-year contract beginning from the IPL's Eleventh edition. On 3 April 2017, Kirsten was announced as coach of the Hobart Hurricanes Twenty20 side for the next two seasons in the Australian Big Bash league from the 2017/18 season.

On 3 April 2017, Kirsten was appointed Head Coach of the men's Hobart Hurricanes cricket team. The Hobart Hurricanes are Tasmania's professional T20 cricket club in the Australian Big Bash League.

In January 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore appointed Kirsten as their batting coach.[10] In August 2018, he was appointed as head coach of RCB following the sacking of their previous coach Daniel Vettori for the 2019 Indian Premier League .[11]

Following former head coach Dean Jones' death in September of 2020, reports began to spread in December of 2020 that Kirsten was appointed as the new Head Coach of the Karachi Kings. This was later revealed to be untrue, with Kirsten only being considered for the job, and it ultimately being given to former South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs.

In January 2021, reports came in that the Pakistan Cricket Board was planning to fire current head coach Misbah-Ul-Haq. This came following the team's poor results against New Zealand in the World Test Championship. Kirsten is reported to be a favourite for the job, along with form Zimbabwean player Andy Flower.