Cricket

Moeen Ali becomes first Muslim Kashmiri to lead England’s cricket team

Srinagar: In a first, Kashmiri origin international cricketer Moeen Ali, born in United Kingdom, has led the England team in a T-20 match against the Australian team on Tuesday, thus becoming the first Kashmiri Muslim cricketer to captain the English cricket team.

Ali’s grandfather, according to reports, migrated to England from Mirpur district of Pakistan administered Kashmir.

Besides English language, the cricketer can understand Urdu and Punjabi as well.

English broadcaster Piers Morgan from Surrey, United Kingdom, while praising Ali, took to his Twitter handle and wrote: “small but significant piece of sporting history tonight. Congrats to Moeen Ali on becoming the first Muslim to captain England at cricket. Great achievement by a classy player & guy.”

https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1303401936776032257?s=20

Ali, an all rounder, is a left-handed batsman and right-arm-off spinner, who played county cricket for Warwickshire before moving to Worcestershire.

Cricket commentators believe it was a landmark moment on the history of Britain that a British-Asian of Pakistani descent led England’s cricket team.

“It is an absolute honour to captain your country,” said Ali at the toss, standing in for a Irish cricketer Eoin Morga who captains the England cricket team in limited overs cricket.

Ali made his One Day International (ODI) debut against the West Indies on February 28, 2014 wherein he scored 44r uns before being dismissed and took his maiden ODI wicket.

Meanwhile, Ali is all set to play for Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB) in the upcoming IPL 2020.

The all-rounder is a crucial member of the RCB unit for the IPL 2020 and his performances will be key in determining how far the Bangalore-based franchise goes into the tournament.

The IPL 2020 is scheduled to start from September 19, with the final scheduled to be played on November 10.

 

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