Pak media bullies Dav Whatmore, coach says batting let team down in Champions Trophy

Pakistan chief coach Dav Whatmore faced a barrage of difficult questions on Saturday evening. Interestingly, he arrived at the media interaction smiling, pretty sure what he was going to face. After about 15 minutes, the veteran coach left smiling, probably happy that he managed to fend off the bouncers thrown at him by a probing and upset Pakistani media.

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"I have always been honest in my opinion to you and I am not going to be emotional today. There is nothing to hide. You win some and you lose some. One Champions Trophy (debacle) doesn't make Pakistan a bad team," Whatmore said.

"This series didn't go well for us, but not all series will go well for you. The preparation was good but we made mistakes," Pakistan's coach said.

After suffering an eight-wicket defeat against India here at Edgbaston, Whatmore pointed out the first loss against the West Indies hurt Pakistan. "We did well in the practice matches and knew the conditions at The Oval but we failed to take advantage," Whatmore said.

Pakistan lost a low-scoring game against the Caribbeans by two wickets. "Whether we were chasing or setting up a target, we could not score the runs. We lost wickets in clusters and in a short tournament that's not desirable," Whatmore explained.

Saying the young bowlers did a good job and the fielding was gradually improving, Whatmore held his batsmen responsible for the Champions Trophy defeats.

"When you lose wickets upfront, you can't do much," he said, adding: "The team's inability to read the wicket against South Africa (in Birmingham) was also a big factor."

Whatmore disagreed with the fact that Pakistan's batting trend has been worrying of late. The team lost the ODIs in South Africa and continued their dismal run in the UK.

"This trend is only in this series. As I said one series doesn't make you bad. Almost the same team beat India in India 2-1," the Aussie coach said by way of defence.

Whatmore urged Pakistan's selectors to prepare a squad with 2015 World Cup in mind. "It's up to them which players they want. The domestic system is quite good in Pakistan and whether players have to play overseas, I am not too sure," Whatmore said.

Pakistan left out veterans Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Abdur Razzaq for the Champions Trophy while veteran pacer Umar Gul missed out due to injury.

With a series against the West Indies coming up, Pakistan will surely make changes but Whatmore indicated the poor showing in short Champions Trophy will not be the right yardstick to sack the team's young players.