Calcutta: Pakistan's coach Dav Whatmore has dismissed as "absolutely incorrect" news that he'd been stressed out after the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka (incidentally, the country of his birth) and advised rest.
"I'm perfectly fine... Somebody may have joked and that got picked up... In fact, I intend travelling around Pakistan to watch the domestic four-day cricket," Whatmore told The Telegraph.
Contacted in Lahore, where he's based, on Saturday afternoon, Whatmore said: "Very casually, I did have a word with a doctor in Sri Lanka, as I was being troubled by itchy spots in the legs...
"The doctor recommended an ointment and that was it... We met at a social gathering, it's not that I made an appointment to consult him... The itchy spots had nothing to do with stress or tension. I'm absolutely fine."
Whatmore certainly sounded perfectly alright. He didn't say so, but at the highest level, particularly if one is coaching Pakistan, then a degree of stress definitely comes with the job.
Pakistan lost in the semi-final, to Sri Lanka, but Whatmore believes Mohammed Hafeez and his men came away with "plenty of positives."
"Look, I need the Board's permission to talk... We didn't make the World Twenty20 final, but returned to Pakistan with plenty of positives," Whatmore maintained.
Pakistan's next engagement will be in the latter half of December, during the short tour of India, featuring ODIs and T20 Internationals.
"We're aware that we'll have to be very well prepared... Very well prepared for India," Whatmore, who came on board earlier this year, accepted.
Whatmore has no plans for a short trip to Australia (for whom he played seven Tests and a solitary ODI), which remains home to his family. However, son Davenell (Jr) is going to be with him in England next month.
[Wife Kathryn and the two children, daughter Alexandra is the elder one, stay an hour's drive away from Melbourne.]
"My son plans to holiday in England for a while and I'll be with him for a week... Other than that, I don't intend travelling out of Pakistan till the tour of India," Whatmore stated.
Whatmore, 58, was coach when Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup. He's also worked with Bangladesh and was the Kolkata Knight Riders' coach for a little over two years.
Besides, Whatmore held a key position in the Bangalore-located National Cricket Academy for around two years, till late 2009.
In many ways, then, he's quite a subcontinentwallah.
