[Watch] Moeen Ali picks MS Dhoni as No. 1 in his top 5 Indian cricketers of all time
England all-rounder Moeen Ali recently had the unenviable task of picking his top five Indian cricketers of all time. The 36-year-old named his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni as his number one pick, followed by Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar as second and third, respectively.
While Ali has never played in the same team as Tendulkar, he has shared the dressing room with Dhoni and Kohli in the IPL. Ali has been part of the CSK setup since 2021 and he helped them win two titles in 2021 and 2023.
Meanwhile, Ali played with Kohli for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from 2018 to 2020.
In an interview with Samp Group shared on their Instagram handle, Ali said:
"For me No. 1 is Dhoni. He was a great player but people forget how good he was. It is everything he won as a captain for India. Virat (Kohli) No.2 because he is great and one of the best players."
Here is the video of Ali picking his top five Indian players of all time:
Ali also praised Tendulkar and admitted the difficulty of placing the legendary batter as his third pick.
"It pains me to say this but he (Sachin) is No. 3 because of him being Sachin and I think he started the (art) of proper batting. There was Sunil Gavaskar as well but he was before my era so I didn’t see a lot of him. But Sachin was just different level," stated Ali.
Tendulkar is the all-time leading run-scorer in Tests and ODI with over 34,000 runs, including a record 100 centuries. Kohli recently overtook Tendulkar's ODI centuries tally (49), scoring his 50th ton in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.
Moeen Ali rounds off his top 5 with Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh
Moeen Ali picked former batters Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh at No. 4 and 5 to round off his list of best Indian cricketers.
Sehwag and Yuvraj were among India's biggest match-winners in the 2000s and early 2010s, helping India win the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup.
The England off-spinner termed Sehwag as his favorite batter.
"My favourite batter is Virender Sehwag because he was something different. The way he batted in Test matches, ODIs and T20s, he scored massive and he absolutely destroyed bowlers," he said.
Ali also said Yuvraj was the batter he looked up to and tried to emulate, calling him the best to watch when on song.
"The guy I looked up to as a batter…in terms of…of course I would try to copy up to a certain extent and people have compared me to him a little bit so it’s Yuvraj Singh. The bat swing, the way he played and his bat swing was amazing to watch. When in form, he was the best player to watch," concluded Ali.
Ali debuted in 2014 in international cricket, but his tenure in the IPL has led to the all-rounder rubbing shoulders with all five cricketers in different ways. He has scored over 1,000 runs and picked up 33 wickets in his 59 IPL games.