In order to prolong his white-ball career, England all-rounder Moeen Ali retired from Test cricket in 2021. However, he decided to come out of Test retirement earlier this month after being approached by England skipper Ben Stokes.

First-choice spinner Jack Leach’s back injury ahead of the five Ashes Tests against Australia paved the way for Ali’s return to the longest format.

Moeen is currently featuring in the Ashes 2023 opener for England against Australia at Edgbaston. His comeback has been far from ideal as his finger injury resurfaced and the left-arm spinner ended up leaking runs in Australia’s first innings.

On Day 3 of the Edgbaston Test, Moeen struggled to bowl and applied spray on the index finger of his bowling hand. He returned with the figures of 2 for 147 in his 33 overs.

Meanwhile, veteran Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has sympathized with Moeen Ali, comparing the situation to "a singer losing his vocals."

"It's massive, to be honest with you, I actually sitting here have a lot of sympathy for Moeen. Not coming off any red-ball cricket for two years and thrown into bowling a lot of overs. The best way I can probably sum it up, and it will probably sound weird, is a singer losing their vocals but expecting to go out and put a concert on," Lyon said in a press conference after the close of play on Day 4.

"It is extremely tough to grip the ball as finger spinners, especially as offies, we put our fingers on the seam and try to spin up the back of the ball. That's where we get spin, drop and drift. So a lot of sympathy for him, I've been there before, it is quite painful," he added.

Lyon, however, refrained from offering any advice to Moeen. "I don't have to tell you what I do in my hotel room. We'll leave it at that."

Coming to the Edgbaston Test, England’s second innings folded for 273 as they set a target of 281 for the tourists.

At stumps on Day 4, Australia were at 107/3 with Usman Khawaja (34*) and Scott Boland (13*) unbeaten in the middle, needing 174 more runs to win the Ashes opener.

So far, Moeen Ali has been able to bowl seven runs in Australia’s second innings and conceded 24 runs from it.