Moeen also extended his support to the newly appointed white-ball skipper Jos Buttler.
English all-rounder Moeen Ali on Wednesday (13th July) said that his side will bounce back in the second ODI against India. He also expressed his confidence in new skipper Jos Buttler, insisting that he will come good.
England suffered a crushing loss in the first game of the three-match ODI series against India at The Oval. Asked to bat first, they suffered a batting debacle and were bundled out for just 110.
Jasprit Bumrah registered his career-best figures of 6/19 whereas Mohammad Shami and Prasidh Krishna also chipped in and took 3 wickets and 1 scalp respectively to help their side be on the top.
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After that skipper, Rohit Sharma led from the front and scored unbeaten 76 runs to take his side home. He stitched an unbeaten 114 runs partnership with Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 31* and helped India to win the match by 10 wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The second game between the two teams will be played on Thursday (14th July) at Lord’s. England would be hoping to keep the series alive and come out all guns blazing after a massive loss.
Ahead of the second ODI, Moeen Ali said that it’s fine if they lose a few games as World Cup is almost two years away and it takes time to ‘bed in’.
“It’s nice to have these guys back and I’m sure it’ll be fine. The World Cup is still two years away (less than 18 months away). It definitely takes time to bed in. It will take a few defeats which are fine. In the past, we’ve won a lot of games, got to a World Cup, and lost those crucial games,” Moeen Ali was quoted as saying by The Cricketer.
Moeen gave his complete backing to Buttler, who faced his third defeat in four matches since taking over as full-time white-ball skipper. He called him a "brilliant leader", praised him for working with the bowlers and said there's "no need to panic" after the losses against India.
“We have lost a few games at the moment but that’s good for us going forward and closer to a World Cup we’ll start winning. We want to win now but you don’t want to win all games. Sometimes you learn more from losing games.
"As a senior player when it’s your turn to do it you will. Jos is a brilliant leader. He’s done it over the years when Eoin hasn’t played but it’s going to take a couple of games in all the formats. He has certainly got a lot of help.
"He does speak to the bowlers beforehand. He will tell me sometimes to go up to the bowler, or for Chris Jordan to do that. It works nicely. When Morgs didn’t play he was always like that. It’s not a problem having a keeper as captain.
“As a new captain no matter how cool you are you want to get off to a winning start, but he knows there’s a long way to go and the team will be fine. There is no need to panic or change. We just need to step up as senior players in the team," he said.
Talking about the new white-ball head coach Matthew Mott, Moeen said that he is very similar to the former England head coach Trevor Bayliss, who was in charge when the side won the 2019 World Cup on home soil.
“He’s a lot like Trevor Bayliss, but he has his own ways. He’s very relaxed and he’s good. It doesn’t look like it has affected him in any way. The dressing room almost runs itself most of the time so the boys are good. We know it can happen the way we play anyway. It’s just one of those days when you draw the line,” he said.
(IANS inputs)