Whatmore, who has faced severe criticism from former players and experts after Pakistan’s losses in Zimbabwe, admitted that the tour had been “embarrassing, upsetting and disappointing” but sounded confident of a turnaround against South Africa.
“All three adjectives (upsetting, disappointed and embarrassing) can be used to describe the way I feel after the defeat against Zimbabwe. I would like to think and public should understand that Zimbabwe team gave us a better fight than what the whole public thought,” Whatmore said in interview with Cricinfo.
Whatmore, who is yet to get a Test series win under his belt since taking over last year, added that Brendan Taylor’s men had prepared them well for the upcoming series and helped in highlighting Pakistan’s weaknesses before the tough challenge ahead.
“You are going from one competition to another in totally different conditions and against an opposition that has a different formation. So there are number of variations and I don't think we can fit the same set of eleven players to play the number one team. But yes, we need to be consistently looking towards strengthening the team combination,” he said while talking about team changes for the South Africa series.
Whatmore also backed under-fire captain Misbah saying, “His consistency in contributions during 2013 has been second to none. It's easy for people to be critical.”
The two-Test series between Pakistan and South Africa begins October 14 in Abu Dhabi while the second match will be played in Dubai from October 23.
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