IPL 2018: Moeen Ali would've played the tournament for free

Gautam Gambhir recently stepped down as the skipper of the Delhi Daredevils (DD) citing the horrendous run for the franchise under his leadership. Also, he has decided to play this season without any remuneration from the franchise. The step by the veteran grabbed headlines and was appreciated by fans across the country.

Moeen Ali, who was bought for INR 1.7 crores by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and he also expressed his desire to the tournament without any salary. The English all-rounder hasn’t played a single game for the franchise and is among the two foreigners along with Tim Southee who has been warming the benches thus far. He said that he has come here to get the experience and would’ve still travelled if he had to do it for free.

Moeen Ali’s ambition 

“If you asked me to play in the IPL for free, I would have done. I literally would have come for the experience, especially with the players at RCB like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock,” Ali told the reports at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. The 30-year-old has played 50 Tests and has snapped 133 wickets to go with 2495 runs at a pretty mediocre average of 32.40.

He had a pretty disappointing outing in the Ashes which was followed by another shoddy performance in the first Test against New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland, he was eventually dropped for the final Test. However, for the all-rounder the move is a blessing in disguise as it gave him an opportunity to work upon himself.

“When I didn’t play the last Test in New Zealand it was a relief. I could have been dropped three Tests earlier – I probably should have been – but Joe said he sees me as a match-winner and, with 50 matches of experience; they wanted to give me a longer run. It was almost like: ‘Right, now I can actually work on my game and mentally have a break from the pressure of playing.’ When it’s my time again, I will be ready,” Moeen added.

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Here is the RCB squad for IPL 2018:

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