Moeen Ali's Pakistani roots turning out to be a huge advantage for England
Moeen Ali, the English all-rounder with Pakistani roots, has revealed that his familiarity with the Pakistani languages and the tactics of the Pakistani cricket team has bee helping his side in the Test series so far, reports IBN Live. The 28-year-old also added that he is hopeful of scoring more runs at the top of the order as he attempts to cement his place in the English Test side.
The Birmingham-born cricketer, whose grandfather married an English woman after migrating from Pakistan, is familiar with Urdu and Punjabi, the two languages that are primarily spoken by the Pakistani cricketers. Ali conceded that he has been using the knowledge to good effect helping his skipper understand what the opposition are planning.
"I do understand what they are saying; when they had a plan for Cooky (Alastair Cook), I was telling him what they will do," he said.
The words of the 28-year old seemed to have worked wonders for Cook, as he went on to score a marathon 263, in about 830 minutes, which turned out to be the longest knock by an English batsman in Tests. In the process, England surpassed Pakistan’s first innings score of 523, amassing 598 runs. In the second innings, courtesy a 5-wicket haul from spinner Adil Rashid, Pakistan slumped to just 173, setting England a target of 99.
England came agonizingly close to the target, but the umpires decided to call off the match citing bad light, with the visitors just 25 runs away from a famous victory. Ali believes that the way England came back in the series opener has boosted the confidence of the squad ahead of the second Test.
"It's given us a lot of confidence and probably given Pakistan a bit of a nudge as well that we are here to be serious. We probably caught them off guard a bit in that last session, but I'm sure they'll come back stronger and be well aware of it now," he said.
The all-rounder also praised fellow spinner Adil Rashid on his second innings performance, after a disastrous spell in the first innings.
"I am very happy for him, he took some stick in the first innings. As a team, we felt he bowled quite well actually. There was nothing in it for him or myself. We kept telling him his wickets would come, he was bowling well in the warm-ups, he's got so much talent and if his confidence is high he'll be good," Ali said.
Ali also confessed that he needed to score more runs at the top of the order and forge more partnerships with his captain.
"It was good, just doing a job for the team, making sure that night we didn't lose any wickets. I've got to score some runs, we need an opening batter who can score runs. Just need to take one game at a time and keep giving England a good start,” he remarked.