England captain Joe Root has on Tuesday (August 10) showered rich praise on all-rounder Moeen Ali ahead of the second Test against India, starting on Thursday (August 12) at Lord’s, saying it's wonderful to see him back in the Test arena.
Hailing the veteran all-rounder’s match-winning ability, Root said Moeen is a wonderful cricketer across the formats and a great ambassador for the game after he joined the team during training at Lord’s.
The skipper further said Moeen is in a great position to play at Lord’s and he would be happier to give him a huge amount of responsibility against India, as he has the ability to win games with both the bat and ball in hand and he would be certainly desperate to do the same.
Root said in a virtual press conference: “Just to go out there and be Moeen Ali. He has the ability to go out there and win games with bat and ball, he's proven that. He plays his best cricket when he is enjoying it and he's full of confidence - it certainly looks that way at the moment, the way he has taken to the Hundred, the way he has led Birmingham Phoenix.”
He continued, “I would happily give him a huge amount of responsibility if he does play because he responds extremely well to that. He is a leader within the dressing room, a great personality, he drags people with him on the field and in the dressing room, so it will be great to have him back around.
We've tried to manage things as best we can over a period of time and I've always been a huge fan of Mo. I think he's a wonderful cricketer across the formats, I think he's a great ambassador for the game, and it's wonderful to see him back in the Test arena, being back in a Test squad.”
The skipper signed off by saying, “It was a brilliant performance he put in Chennai earlier this year and if he gets an opportunity, he'll be desperate to impress and show everyone how good he is in Test cricket as well as white-ball cricket. He's certainly a big contender. We haven't been to the ground yet and we'll look at conditions and weigh things up but he's in a great position to play.”
(With ANI Inputs)
