It’s difficult to get noticed in a team that contains Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, but Moeen Ali has definitely made his presence felt at Royal Challengers Bangalore this season.
While Kohli (387), de Villiers (332) and Parthiv Patel (283) have more runs than Moeen (216), his runs have come at the best strike-rate of anyone in the team – 168.75. Moeen played crucial roles in Royal Challengers winning their two most-recent matches. His 66 off 28 balls set the platform for a 200-plus total against Kolkata Knight Riders, and his 26 off 16 ensured Royal Challengers piled on enough – just about – to beat Chennai Super Kings.
However, the 31-year-old all-rounder is not happy leaving the T20 extravaganza at a stage when RCB has a realistic chance of making the cut for the playoffs stage.
“It’s not ideal. I think it’s worse when there are three games to go. If there were 6, 7 games, it was a little more understandable. And knowing that there could be a chance of going through if we win all our games, then you miss out on a potential semifinal and stuff, but I will definitely keep an eye out and see how they are going, hoping that we are winning all our games,” Moeen told the reporters on eve of Royal Challengers’ match against the Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday.
Praises for Dale Steyn
Moeen also heaped praise for Dale Steyn, who has already made an impact in the two games he has played. The South African speedster replaced Nathan Coulter-Nile and has picked wickets in the powerplay, something RCB lacked badly in the first eight games.
“Dale has been a huge impact. We did not take wickets in the power-plays. If you take four wickets in power-plays, most of the time you win matches. He has been a class act. The way he swings the ball is a brave thing to do. Probably that has been the missing factor, which cost us games,” Ali mentioned.
