‘A very proud moment for me and my mum and dad’: Moeen Ali ‘honoured’ to return back to his roots in Pakistan as England captain

“With my roots being from Pakistan, to lead England in such an historic series is a very proud moment for me and my mum and dad. I’m somebody that wants to play cricket in every nation, and Pakistan especially, after so long.”

Moeen sees the upcoming tour, a first for the England men’s team since 2005, as an extension of his decision to play in Pakistan Super League and  “putting Pakistan cricket back on the map”.

Moeen Ali in the press conference ahead of the first Pakistan-England T20I. (Photo: PCB/Twitter)

“I wanted to be part of this. It’s a big thing when England come to Pakistan, more than any other country, England’s the one that the Pakistan fans really love to see coming here.”

It was frustrating for Moeen when the England tour to Pakistan was called off ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup.

“Obviously there was still a little bit of Covid then, so you don’t know what the restrictions might have been. At least now everybody can come. I’m a big believer that when things aren’t easy, if you have a bit of patience, then they become easy.”

It was his discussion with head coach Brendon McCullum earlier this summer about the Pakistan Test tour in December that had made Moeen rethink his decision of retiring from Test cricket last year.

🗣️ “If Baz McCullum wants me, I’ll definitely play in Pakistan.” 👀

Moeen Ali says he would come out of Test retirement to play in England’s tour of Pakistan.

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“I spoke to McCullum this morning, and we did discuss Pakistan this winter. The door is always open, and yeah, I suppose I am officially unretired,” he had said.

Since his arrival to the country, Moeen’s phone has been constantly pinging with messages of family and friends in Pakistan enquiring for tickets. The restrictions in terms of travelling to the city have been different compared to his PSL experience and the 35-year-old has said that his decision to play in the Test series in Pakistan later this year will be largely dependent on it.

 “I’m not sure yet,” he said. “I want to see how this goes. I don’t like being stuck in a hotel for so long so I’m going to see how I cope with this as well.”

A visit to the country as the England captain for a T20I series as long as seven games ahead of a T20 World Cup is an even sweeter moment for the all-rounder. Former England captain Nasser Hussain comes to mind. Leading the national side in the 2001/02 tour of India, Hussain’s return to his native city of Chennai was quite the occasion in itself as he was received a warm welcome from the home fans. ‘An emotional visit’, as he has called it. Moeen can expect a similar reception and a similar flurry of emotions come the matchday in Karachi. The journey for the 35-year-old to this point has been anything but easy.

“My journey in sustaining my sons’ love for the game hasn’t been easy,” Moeen’s father, Munir Ali had told the Indian Express back in 2021. “There have been days when I had just 10 pounds in my pocket and had to spend 9 of it on petrol so that I can take my sons around for games. With the remaining one pound, I would buy bread for the family. My brother also threw everything into the dream. It needs sacrifices from the family to prop up dreams for the little ones.”

“I remember sitting at the ground at Worcester years ago when Moeen walked out to bat. A loud voice shouted, “shave off the beard!”. I had already been hearing some murmurs in the cricketing world about Moeen’s faith. “Even some coaches. They would gently tell you, “look, this is England, think about that beard”. I was worried and went to Moeen, who told me in a clear voice that this was him. That he wasn’t going to bother about the criticism.”

Known as a man of faith and firm in his belief of his religion, Munir told how Moeen faced hurdles early in his career owing to his faith, and how he was able to overcome them because of his faith.

“Once on a developmental tour to India, a coach, who will go unnamed, told him to trim the beard,” he said.

“Moeen told him, “I will leave cricket today but will not leave my belief, and this is my belief. If I play, I will play with what I am. He didn’t play a single match there, I think, and when they asked him at the end of the tour about his learnings, he said, “nothing, just net practice, I could have done it in England.” Everyone else played but he wasn’t played, and he knew it was because of beard.”

Munir further added, “I was worried about his immediate future, but he piled on the performances in county cricket and progressed. That’s the kind of strong character he is. He will shrug this off as well but that doesn’t mean anyone can take a pop at him like this. England cricket has changed for good over the years and everyone loves and respects Moeen.”