The Board of Control for Cricket in India made no secret of the fact that it wanted the Australian to take over the reins of the Indian team after Greg Chappell quit soon after India's first round exit from the 2007 World Cup.
'I think Whatmore is the front-runner,' BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah declared last week.
But things took a dramatically different turn at the meeting in Bangalore on Monday, June 4, when the seven-member selection committee sat down to finalise the new coach.
Shockingly, Whatmore was not given the job and the committee asked for a few more days to name the new coach.
The burly Australian abruptly found himself out of favour, this after a month when it was said he was a virtual shoo-in for the job.
The Board typically didn't extend Whatmore the courtesy of a phone call to tell him that he was no longer in the reckoning for the coach's job or the reasons for his omission.
Asked if someone from the BCCI had called him to inform about the decision, "No. Like everyone else I read it in the newspapers," he told rediff.com on Wednesday afternoon.
He added that he has no regrets on not getting the job.
"I am enjoying my time with my family," Whatmore, who has just finished a stint coaching the Bangladesh cricket team said. "I am back in Australia and spending time at home."
He refused to get into the details of whether BCCI officials had spoken to him about the job, adding that he would not like to comment on the issue, his disappointment clear on the telephone.
So who could be blamed for jumping the gun and leading to such an awkward situation?
If sources close to Whatmore are to be believed, he was in the process of getting the paperwork ready for a family visa, so that his family could move to India along with him.
Meanwhile, the seven-member committee, comprising of former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Ravi Shastri, BCCI President Sharad Pawar, Secretary Niranjan Shah, Treasurer N Srinivasan and Vice-President M P Pandove have shortlisted two candidates.
South Africa's Graham Ford and England John Emburey are the two men in the fray, though neither has a resume like Whatmore's.
The committee will name the coach on Saturday.
After his meeting with Pawar and other Board officials in Bangladesh last month, Whatmore had felt he would get the nod.
"I am ready for the challenge if the opportunity comes," Whatmore said on the eve of the first Test in Chittagong last month. "I am as much ready to sink my teeth into the problems and find out a solution as the BCCI would want me to," referring to India's poor showing in international cricket in recent times.
"I have had star material always," he said then. "When I coached Lancashire the first season was a disaster, but the second season was the best the county had in their entire cricketing history. And both seasons they had nine of the England players in the side and three overseas players who were stars too. Sri Lanka had players like Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Asantha Gurusinghe. They were big stars in their country. But I never found it difficult to handle them."
Many felt the approach by the BCCI was responsible for him quitting his Bangladesh job, that led to strained relations with the Bangladesh cricket board, and also for his spurning the Pakistan coach's job.
