Saqlain Mushtaq finds backing from Moeen Ali for a permanent role in England squad

Man of the series in the recently concluded England-South Africa series, Moeen Ali has recently been vocal about a permanent place for the England’s spinning consultant Saqlain Mushtaq. Mushtaq has played a key role for Ali’s rich form in bowling as he climbs up the ladder in the Test ranking for all rounders.

Mushtaq extended his contract with ECB post-India’s tour of England. Since then he has been instrumental in bringing in variations in his off-spin which worked wonders for the number four ranked All rounder in Test. He has scored 270 runs in the series apart from the 25 wickets he claimed. It also included a hat-trick at Oval which ended the match for South Africans.

“I’d love to have him for all games – T20s, one-dayers and Test matches. If you are going to have batting, fielding and fast-bowling coaches, it would be nice to have a spin-bowling coach for pretty much all the games
If I do get on that plane for the Ashes, hopefully, I’ll have Saqi sitting next to me. I’d like him to be there. He can help me out” claimed Moeen Ali according to ANI.

Ali optimistic about Mushtaq’s presence in Ashes

“He gave me the option of putting a silly point in.Maybe it put something in the batter’s mind in terms of playing forward. I bowled a bit shorter, he went back. I think that made the difference. There is always something new with Saqi. The basics are the same, but he has found a few variations in my bowling which I am working on. He is brilliant with my mindset,” said Ali spilling out the beans regarding his success.

However, he was optimistic about a permanent role in the team in future. “That’s not too far from the future. I know we had him in India, but it’s taken a bit of time for me to understand him and him to understand me. He has been amazing for me in terms of helping with my fields, helping me understand my bowling a lot more than I had done previously and I think that has been the biggest difference,” concluded Ali.