Few months back when there were reports that Whatmore had reported some players to the board for poor performances, the PCB issued a contradiction quoting Whatmore as saying that he had no problems with the players.

"This is not the Whatmore everybody talked about in the past. Even when he had applied for the Pakistan coaching position in 2007 some senior board officials had advised then board chairman, Nasim Ashraf against hiring him as they had reports that he had become very passive while dealing with players," the source said. "Even when Misbah and Hafeez are making wrong calls, Whatmore is not taking a stand or telling them that they are wrong. Apparently he does not want to spoil his relations with them and put his position in danger," another source said. Cricket analysts believe that unless the team turns around its performance in the last Test and in the one-dayers and T20s in South Africa, Whatmore could face some hard questions from the board chairman. The Australian has been hired on a two-year contract by the board in place of Mohsin Khan, who had led Pakistan to Test series wins over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England before being asked to step down.