Munir Ali, father of English cricketer Moeen Ali, indicated that his son's retirement decision was not natural. Rather, it happened as a result of the England team management's failure to provide him (Moeen) with enough opportunities.
“I did speak to Moeen once and he said, ‘Dad, listen, you go in at number eight and you’ve got to play two games – you’ve either got to block it out or you’ve got to go and hit out, you can’t play normally,” Munir told inews UK.
The 34-year-old’s father's statement implies that his son wanted to bat higher in the order to establish himself as a red-ball batting mainstay and score more runs for his team. Despite being a brilliant all-rounder, Moeen batted at number 7 or 8 for England in Test matches even when the middle order struggled.
Of late, England have included Moeen in majority of Test matches as a bowling all-rounder rather than a batter. In 64 Tests, he scored 2,914 runs and got 195 wickets.
The Birmingham-born cricketer was on the cusp of a unique feat but announced his retirement before the Ashes.
“I would love him to have played in that final Test (against India) and got five more wickets and 86 more runs to be one of only 15 players to have achieved 3000 runs and 200 Test wickets,” he said.
Despite not being given enough opportunities in the England Test lineup, it was not the main reason behind his retirement from the longest format.
“But the main reason for retiring is that Australian tour and being in a bubble, after being in a bubble all last year. At his age, I don’t think he fancied carrying the drinks,” he added.
