Dav Whatmore under Pakistan Cricket Board radar for coach's position

The coach hunt in Pakistan has been temporarily put on hold. The search for the successor of Waqar Younis, who quit the job recently, will resume after the new Pakistan Cricket Board chief takes charge of his office. “For the time being, there is no activity on that front,” said a spokesman for the PCB. “There is a halt.”

New PCB chief Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf has not yet been relieved of his duties in the country’s top agricultural bank. “He will take a call on all pending issues once he joins the office,” the spokesman said. He, however, was not in a position to give a timeframe for the new chairman to take over the reins.

There are believed to be five candidates in the fray for the coach’s position and one of them is Dav Whatmore. Although his name has not found mention in the media, the former National Cricket Academy (NCA) coach, currently the coaching director of Kolkata Knight Riders, was in advance talks with the PCB authorities. 

Before a change was effected at the helm of the PCB, Whatmore had held talks with the previous dispensation of the Pakistan board.

If sources were to be believed, he was to meet the PCB officials for finalisation of his contract. In fact, the meeting was scheduled for Sunday (October 16) in Dubai. With Ejaz Butt out of office, the PCB has called off all scheduled meetings till the new chief takes charge.

Whatmore, however, has maintained a stoic silence. The World Cup-winning former Sri Lanka coach, who had coached Bangladesh team before taking over as the chief coach of the NCA in Bangalore, refused to discuss the matter. “No no, nothing like

that,” he said before snapping the conversation.
With his vast knowledge of the conditions in the sub-continent, Whatmore was thought to be the preferred choice of the Pakistan’s coach selection committee which consists of Intikhab Alam, Zaheer Abbas and Colonel Naushad. Among others in the fray, reportedly, are Aaqib Javed and Dermot Reeve.

Whatmore is currently in a three-year contract with the Knight Riders. The contract will expire next year but the IPL franchise is unlikely to stop him if he were to be offered the Pakistan position. There is no indication of any dissatisfaction over the 57-year Australian but there is a feeling in the franchise that Whatmore has not exactly set the Hooghly ablaze.

The Knight Riders sure have qualified for the playoffs in the IPL 4 and Champions League Twenty20 but that is about it. The team has failed to make further progress. The Pakistan job may provide the two parties an opportunity to part ways amicably. If the Pakistan offer was not to come his way, Whatmore will have to look elsewhere as the franchise is unlikely to give him an extension.