On the 4th of March, 2012 the PCB selected Dav Whatmore to replace Mohsin Khan as the head coach of the Pakistan Cricket team. Yup, he’s the same guy that coached the Lankan Lions to victory in the 1996 world cup.

Although a lot of people are aware that Dav is Australian and has represented Australian cricket in the international arena, what some people might not know is that he’s originally from Sri Lanka (don’t kill me if you knew that already). After playing for Australia, Mr. Whatmore took on coaching. He coached Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Lancashire and now it’s Pakistan’s turn.

Pakistan are a resurgent side with wins against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the West Indies, New Zealand and a weird series against England; a good number of these under interim coach Mohsin Khan. This is why there was a lot of debate about bringing Dav onboard. When a team is already doing well and is performing as a unit, why change the combination?

My personal view is that Mohsin should have remained as coach minus the “interim”. Why? Because the team was genuinely performing under him and looked like a gelled unit. I know that Whatmore has a world cup win under his belt but that was 16 years ago! We can also credit him with helping the Lions completely transform their game, but Pakistan is not Sri Lanka. We are a much more volatile side with very different dynamics. Also, I’m sure Whatmore’s Sri Lankan background gave him an edge while coaching the Sri Lankan team.

Alright, I can almost hear the cynics cry out: ‘Lekin!!!! We were clean sweep’ed in the ODIs by England and lost the T20 series too. Where was Mohsin then??’

If you’re one of the cynics, have you forgotten the white-washing of the goras in the Tests? Plus, the track record of the team before that? One thing that we as a nation fail to realize is that losing is a part of the game (it just shouldn’t become a habit). The important thing is to learn from our mistakes and rectify them! Oh and by the way, the coaching was not the mistake…the BATTING was!

I don’t have anything against Dav; I just personally feel that when something isn’t broken, it shouldn’t be fixed.

Anyhow, the future is the Asia Cup. We have a new coach at the helm and the team I am sure is looking to make amends. According to Whatmore “I see this tournament as the first of many challenges ahead of us. The other teams are good one-day sides and strong competitors”.

I agree and hope that he emerges victorious with our team out of all the challenges. The first challenge being the high-voltage face-off against the Indians on the 18th.