All-rounder is a passionate advocate of red-ball cricket as he closes in on becoming only the fourth Englishman to take 200 wickets and score 3,000 runs in Tests; plus, after contracting coronavirus, he believes fellow Muslims should take the COVID-19 vaccine
Saturday 30 January 2021 10:25, UK
Moeen Ali says he has unfinished business in Test cricket and is hungry to achieve new targets in India after recovering from coronavirus.
The England all-rounder sat out the 2-0 win in Sri Lanka after testing positive for COVID-19 at the start of the tour in December, scuppering his chances of resuming a Test career interrupted when he took a break from cricket after being dropped during the 2019 Ashes.
Ali admits his 14 days in quarantine were "tough" as he battled splitting headaches, a sore body and a level of tiredness unparalleled in his life, but the 33-year-old pulled through sufficiently well to complete five or six net sessions in Sri Lanka.
Now he is hopeful of challenging fellow spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach for a place in the first Test against India, which begins on Friday in Chennai.
The prospect of becoming only the fourth Englishman after Sir Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad to take 200 Test wickets and score 3,000 Test runs is a big incentive - with the goal 19 wickets and 218 runs away.
Ali has form in Chennai too, where four years ago he scored the most recent of his five Test centuries, although his 146 was overshadowed by India's imposing total of 759-7 declared as the hosts went on to seal a 4-0 series triumph with victory by an innings and 75 runs in the fifth Test.
He insists he feels ready to play and is eager to make a swift impact on this series to convince the selectors he should stay on for the third and fourth Tests - a decision that has yet to be made.
"I have little targets that I want to achieve first, like I'm not too far away from 200 wickets," said Ali.
"I know people say they don't look at these kind of things but it would be something that I'd love and then I'd set another target after that. I'm just going to take series by series and not take things for granted.
"I got to a point where I was going on every tour and I was almost too comfortable. It's a nice position to be in now; as much as you don't fight for places with guys, I feel it's a drive and it motivates me big time."
He added: "I feel like I've still got wickets, runs and match-winning performances in me. Having a break 18 months or so ago, during that I felt like I still have it in me to do well."
Ali has not played Test cricket since August 2019, when a return of four runs and figures of 2-130 in 29 overs in the first Ashes Test - which Australia won by 251 runs - saw him axed from the squad.
He maintains that he has no regrets about withdrawing from red-ball cricket and the opportunity to play white-ball cricket around the world in tournaments including the Pakistan Super League and the Indian Premier Leauge has helped him get his hunger back for the red-ball game.
"Ultimately it was Test cricket that I missed and I feel like I could still do quite well in," he said.
"The one thing that I did learn was that when you play Test cricket you're on top of your game, in terms of your batting and bowling and your technique.
"Just playing white-ball cricket you have a white-ball technique but it's not always great for you if you are only playing white-ball; I think red-ball is very important for staying on top of your game.
"I always watched a few of the guys previously who only played white ball and I felt like as soon as they had a couple of tournaments where they didn't do so well they were pretty much out of it.
"The guys who generally played red-ball cricket, their white-ball cricket was always quite decent and quite consistent.
"When you are playing red-ball cricket you are hitting a lot more balls and bowling a lot more; with T20 cricket as much as it is hitting fours and sixes, your technique has to be good.
"It doesn't surprise me that Jos [Buttler] and Stokesy [Ben Stokes] are two of the best T20 players around and they play Test cricket - their defence now is pretty solid and it does help you going forward and gives you more confidence. When I was playing all forms, I felt like I was better with my white-ball to be sure."
For now Ali is confined to familiar quarters, namely a hotel room, as he and his England team-mates fulfil their quarantine period before practice for the full squad begins on Tuesday.
Having already been through the anxiety and physical challenges of being COVID-19 positive, Ali is an advocate of the UK's vaccination programme at a time when there is a nervousness among some Muslim communities that the vaccine may be forbidden in Islamic Law.
Last week the Al-Abbas Islamic Centre in Balsall Heath in Ali's native Birmingham became the first mosque to open as a vaccination centre and Ali says fellow Muslims should take up the offer of a vaccination.
"At the minute I would take it and I would urge other people to take it as well; having spoken to quite a few guys who know quite a bit about these things, I would definitely take it and get my family and my parents to take it," he said.
"I know there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there but it's just the way that medicine evolves. Loads of people have taken it and been fine.
"Especially in our community I think people are always a little bit cautious about these things but for things to get back to normal I think it's important that we do it."
