Dav Whatmore has a lot of answering to do. The Pakistani coach is facing severe criticism after the team suffered defeat in South Africa in the test series. Those having fair amount of knowledge about the game are holding Whatmore responsible for the debacle, the team has suffered in South Africa.
Contrary to his reputation of being a tough taskmaster, Dav Whatmore has been more of a lenient coach and this approach has been costing the Pakistani team dear. A former Australian Test player, Dav Whatmore was appointed the coach of the Pakistan national team in last March.
If reports coming from South Africa are to be believed, even after the lackluster performance of Pakistan bowlers and batsman during the second test match in Cape Town, Dav Whatmore did not question the wisdom of players, neither did he decide to communicate with the players, nor did he offer any remedial tips to help the players improve their performance.
A source close to Pakistan team had some hard words for Dav Whatmore. The source was of the opinion that if such a situation had occurred in any other country with some other test-playing nation, the coach would have taken the team to task. However, Dav Whatmore decided to look the other side and did not scold the players for their poor performance.
It is not as if only Dav Whatmore is under fire. Bowling coach Mohammad Akram and fielding coach, Julian Fountain have also come under the scanner for not being hard enough with the players during the training sessions.
Even former Pakistan players were critical of Dav Whatmore. Mohsin Khan, Inzamam –ul-Haq and Rashid Latif are of the view that the current coach has proved to be a big disappointment and has caused a great deal of harm to the national team. Some sources close to the team point out that Dav Whatmore lacks in competitive approach and does not take things in a thorough professional manner. This is contrary to the professional approach that test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and T20 captain Mohammad Hafeez wish to follow. Dav Whatmore is known not to speak when it comes to team selection issues too, as per the team source.
Media reports are conflicting too. Few months ago, the media was abuzz with speculations that Dav Whatmore has reported about the poor performance of some players to the selectors. However, Pakistan Cricket Board came with a contradicting statement that Dav Whatmore has said that all was well in the team.
Things have been rough for Dav Whatmore since long. He had also applied for the position of national coach in 2007. Selectors at that point of time had advised the PCB chairman, Nasim Ashraf not to have Dav Whatmore as the coach as he was quite passive in his approach towards the players.
Analysts are of the view that only if the team is able to win the last test and the following one-day and T-20 series, will Dav Whatmore be able to retain his position. Dav has been hired for a period of two years in place of Mohsin Khan and in case he is not able to ensure the Pakistani victory, things will get worse for him.