Will Mohsin stay on as Pakistan coach ?

[Woodster]

His record currently matches up against any Pakistan coach of the past yet it seems inevitable that Dav Whatmore is to succeed Mohsin Khan as the Pakistan coach. Now I'm not going to pretend I have the first clue about the politics that surrounds cricket in Pakistan, but from the outside looking in it seems like a big mistake to let Mohsin go after recent performances.

He appears to have the respect of the players and his interviews are fantastic. I know there's more to coaching than that, but he is very frank and honest in his analysis at the end of a day's play.

His partnership with Misbah seems to have clicked and it all looks so unusually settled in the Pakistan camp and they look a cohesive unit. Yes there are still areas they need to work hard at, but they are surely heading in the right direction. Will Dav Whatmore improve Pakistan, or will it cause more disruption at a time when it's the last thing they need ?

 

[Agent Nationaux]

It's a tough one Woodster.

Most of the credit should go to Waqar and Misbah who built this team. Also it's Misbah who is behind all the strategy, the planning etc. Mohsin's only great quality is that he is respected by the players and has a great relationship with them. But our batsmen do have technical faults (Toffee, Azhar, etc) and so we need a proper coach like Whatmore to sort that stuff out.

Personally I would like Mohsin to remain as a manager and Whatmore to come in as a batting/head coach.

 

[Woodster]

It's a tough one Woodster.

Most of the credit should go to Waqar and Misbah who built this team. Also it's Misbah who is behind all the strategy, the planning etc. Mohsin's only great quality is that he is respected by the players and has a great relationship with them. But our batsmen do have technical faults (Toffee, Azhar, etc) and so we need a proper coach like Whatmore to sort that stuff out.

Personally I would like Mohsin to remain as a manager and Whatmore to come in as a batting/head coach.

Is there not room for specialist coaches ? Does Whatmore have to double-up as head coach/batting coach, is there not scope for two different people ? Basically can a specialist batting coach not be brought in to enable Mohsin to focus on his areas of strength as head coach ?

Yes I appreciate nothing can be taken away from Waqar and the part he had in assembling this side, although Mohsin was not shy in claiming credit for the initial inclusion of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. Misbah too deserves plenty of credit, still not certain about some of his tactics but you cannot take anything away from him during this series.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

That was just one aspect of what Whatmore could bring to the table. There are many other areas where he could improve Pakistan. For example one of Whatmore's conditions are that he is allowed to select the squad. That would mean no more Fart.

Our current batting coach is Ijaz Ahmad, who I don't trust at all. I don't know who else could we use as a specialist batting coach though. Maybe Saeed Anwar.

Mohsin prefers to drink tea whilst the boys practise. That is not good for a coach to do.

 

[Fusion]

Perhaps I'm being harsh on him, but I don't credit the success of the team to Mohsin. I think the foundation of recovery was laid by Waqar and Misbah, with the bulk of the credit going to Captain Tuk Tuk. The only doubt I'm having now with letting Mohsin go and hiring Whatmore is the chance of messing up this great team chemistry. Whether or not Mohsin is really having an impact becomes almost irrelevant if the team is having success. I fear that Whatmore, who's supposed to be a hands-on and demanding coach, might have a clash with Misbah and the other senior players for control.

Normally I wouldn't give a damn about player's egos and would want a strong coach that takes control. That's why I supported the hiring of Whatmore from the beginning. Success has spoiled me though and I'm now in two minds about trying to fix what ain't broken. Ugh, this is tough. I still say we hire Whatmore, but retain Mohsin in some capacity.

 

[Faisal1985]

Personally believe we need Whatmore. This was a series in familiar conditions with the help of our spinners we did wonders so far. All the series before this except Srilanka were against weaker teams..there is a lot of success there but Mohsin has nothing to do with it. He is like a fatherly figure who really is not doing much other than making motivational speeches for the players. Our batting is not where it should be if we struggled against English attack on these pitches we will struggle even more on moving wickets and we need a hands on batting coach to further our batsmen's abilities. We need Whatmore imo. As far as clashes are concerned I am sure Whatmore can see that PCB doesn't really care much about sacking a coach if he is the cause of disruption with captain and players (i.e. Lawson) and I don't see any evidence of him clashing with other captains of other teams he has coached...

To me its important that we have a qualified, proven coach to further the technique of our batsmen and make them better to play in swinging conditions and we need a coach like Whatmore to do that....

Its nice to see Misbah and Mohsin work well together but in the long run this is not going to work simply because Mohsin is not the type of coach who will go on the field to correct a batsman's batting technique and all...