Legendary English all-rounder Moeen Ali has finally drawn curtains to his illustrious international career for England. This is now official as the player with two World Cup titles has ended his days for the Three Lions.
Moeen has represented the English side for a decade now since he marked his debut back in 2014 when he was primarily seen as a player of the longest format of the game. Ali was one of England’s frontline spinners after Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar retired internationally from tests.
However, Ali soon introduced himself as a world-class all-rounder and his aggressive nature. He was then brought in by Captain Morgan to the limited-overs cricket, where he emerged as England’s second all-rounder option alongside Ben Stokes.
Ali was a part of England’s World Cup-winning team in 2019, their first ever in the history of cricket. Also, he reversed international retirement alongside Stokes to feature for the three-lions in the T20 World Cup 2022 under skipper Buttler. This was their second T20 World Cup title following the first win under Collingwood.
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In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, he admitted that he is 37 years old and also didn’t get picked for the Australia series, to which he explains that he has played much of his game and it’s time for the next generation to go out there and play his game.
Moeen Ali retires internationally with nearly 300 matches across all three formats of the game. He has scored 6678 runs while also picking up 366 wickets. He will be remembered as England’s all-time greatest all-rounder, having scored eight centuries as well.
“People forget the impact you make in games. It might only have been 20 or 30, but it was a crucial 20 or 30. For me, it was about making an impact. I know what I brought to the side, on and off the field. As long as I felt people enjoyed watching me play, whether or not I did well, I was happy with that,” Ali remarked on his role in the England setup.
Moeen has represented several teams globally across several franchise tournaments, as he has played for teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. He is also about to make his debut in the CPL after being announced as a replacement in the Guyana Amazon Warriors team.
During his decade-long cricket career, when asked about his most memorable moment, Ali shared his two World Cup-winning moments as well as their Ashes victory.
However, for England, he has individually scored England’s fastest 50 in just 16 deliveries against South Africa in 2022. He also remembers his wonderful Test hat-trick from Oval.
He said, on recalling his greatest moment
“Winning the Ashes and two World Cups was great, but from an individual point of view, it was my Test hat-trick against South Africa at the Oval to win us the game. And I’m proud to have the fastest T20 50 for England (16 balls vs. South Africa in 2022).”
