Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore has come under severe criticism after the team's successive defeats in the Test series in South Africa, with some in the cricket fraternity holding him responsible for the reverses.

Whatmore, a former Australian Test player who took charge of the Pakistan team in March last year, is being blamed for being a passive coach in complete contradiction to his reputation of being a hard task master.The Australian was demanding during his tenure with the Sri Lankan and Bangladesh team. "Reports that are coming in from South Africa confirm that even after some careless approach by batsmen and bowlers in the second Test in Cape Town, Whatmore has not bothered to have a talk with them and give them a dressing down.

Normally, in other teams when a team performs as badly as Pakistan, the coach minces no words in making it clear to the players what is required of them," a source close to the Pakistan team said.Not only Whatmore but even bowling coach, Mohammad Akram and fielding coach, Julian Fountain are being blamed for not being tough enough with the players. Former Test players like Rashid Latif, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohsin Khan stated that Whatmore has been a big disappointment.

The problem clearly appears to be that Whatmore is not willing to do anything which goes against what the Test and T20 captains, Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez or some other senior players are thinking. He is not willing to take a stand on some issues or selection matters," the team source said.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.