‘Real star’ Babar Azam needs to spend more time at the crease: Michael Holding

Former Windies pacer Michael Holding believes Pakistan captain Babar Azam needs to spend more time at the crease, after looking at the Men in Green’s high dot balls percentage in the first ODI against Zimbabwe.    

Pakistan played 154 dot balls, while batting first, during Friday’s ODI against Zimbabwe. Although, they won the match by 26 runs after a close finish.

“That [dot balls] will happen sometimes but they still managed to get a reasonable total of 281 and against Zimbabwe they got away with it because Zimbabwe are not a very strong batting lineup or a strong team,” said Holding on his official YouTube channel.

Holding, who is also a renowned commentator, also urged Pakistan team management and batsmen to closely analyse the situation.

“I would suggest that as time goes on they will need to look at that and whoever is at the crease needs to find ways to pick up singles and keep the scoreboard ticking over,” he said. “The coaches also need to sit down with players and analyse the situation and one would hope that they would learn as times goes on…,” he added.  

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Holding also believes that other Pakistan batsmen look towards Azam to lead the way as he is real star in the team.

“I would love to see Babar Azam get some bigger scores and spend more time at the crease. His strike-rate is always pretty good whenever he gets to the crease. Other players will play around him as he is the real star in the team. Players are looking towards him to lead the way so he can help this team a great deal,” he said.