Pakistan bowling legend Waqar Younis has given his backing to the decision of Pakistan Cricket Board to appoint former Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore as Pakistan’s new national team coach.
Waqar started praising Whatmore’s appointment by quoting the Australian’s achievements with Sri Lanka, the team with whom he won the World Cup in 1996. Waqar said, “I think the appointment of Whatmore is a good decision by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He has done wonders previously and did really well with Sri Lanka in 1996.”
While hoping that things go well for Pakistan under Whatmore, the former paceman pointed out that the current Pakistani squad will have to put in the required amount of hard work if Whatmore’s stint with the Asian side is to become successful.
The former Pakistan coach talked about Whatmore’s strictness as a coach. He said, “Whatmore is a strict guy, he’s a tough man. He likes to work really hard and as I said earlier he has done well with other Asian countries.
Waqar believes that the team has performed well in the past 18 months and mentioned about the hard work done by the players during his time as the coach. He is quite convinced that the team would be willing to learn from the experience of Whatmore now.
“The players have done well over the past year and a half and worked very hard with me when I was the coach. I’m pretty sure the players will be up for it and looking forward to having the opportunity to work with Whatmore,” said Waqar.
Regarding a possibility of becoming the national team’s bowling coach, Waqar said that he was not interested at the moment to take up any role alongside Whatmore. He maintained that it would be Whatmore’s job to recommend the appropriate person for the currently vacant role.
For his game in charge, Whatmore will lead Pakistan in to the Asia Cup opener against hosts Bangladesh on March 11.