Moeen Ali ruled out of the first ODI against Pakistan due to rib injury

Veteran spinner Moeen Ali flew back to England for national duties ahead of the last week of April when the Royal Challengers Bangalore were still in the contest, and in fact, had started winning after a series of dismal performances. England just recently won the one-off T20I fixture against a touring Pakistan team, on Sunday.

The five-match ODI series commences on Wednesday, May 8, and according to latest reports Moeen Ali has been ruled out of the game due to a rib injury. Ali was in good form throughout the IPL 2019 season, delivering good spells with both bat and ball. In fact, he gave back to back star performances for the RCB in the 3rd week of April, against the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders.

He first scored a fifty against Mumbai and picked up two wickets at an economy rate of 4.50 on the same day. In their next fixture, against KKR at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Ali scored a blistering 66 and with Kohli scoring a hundred the Bengaluru unit were guided to a much-needed victory.

Joe Denly might replace Moeen Ali in first ODI

The all-rounder left the Indian Premier League midway to take part in England’s World Cup camp. Denly playing for KKR left to England a couple of days before Moeen Ali left. Denly suffered an injury in his first game of the season for Kent during the domestic One-Day Cup defeat to Gloucestershire. But was seen playing for England in the T20I against Pakistan, at Cardiff. Along with captain Eoin Morgan (57 n.o off 29), Denly (20 n.o off 12) stitched a reasonable partnership and skilfully led England to victory in a close battle.

 The 33-year-old leg-spinner also appears in England’s preliminary World Cup squad and might be a backup in case Moeen or Adil Rashid have succumbed to injury. The first ODI against Pakistan will be played on Wednesday at The Oval. And most likely, Denly may be given an opportunity to consider his selection in the squad over again.

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