“People have their own agendas, so as long as they're okay, no one cares”

Moeen Ali has had a unique connection with Bangladesh. From his age-level days to family ties, the 38-year-old Pakistan-born English cricketer knows Bangladeshi cricket inside out. A two-time World Cup winner, Moeen is also friends with many Bangladeshi legends. Recently retired from international cricket, Moeen is now a podcaster and a freelance cricketer. Known for his strong opinions on the health of the global game, he is back for another BPL season representing Sylhet Titans. In an exclusive conversation with Daily Sun's Muhummad Jubair, Moeen shared his thoughts on the recent Mustafizur Rahman and World Cup controversy and shed light on some uncharted territory regarding the future of the game.

Daily Sun: Feels good to be back in Sylhet again?

Moeen Ali: Nice to be back. I'm little bit sad that this time there was not comilla victorians. They were a very good team. But it's nice to be back and playing for Sylhet. Obviously, with my in-laws and things like that, it's good to be here.

Daily Sun: In the social media handles, Sylhet Titans mentioned you as Dula Bhai. Are you familiar with the term?

Moeen: Yeah, of course. I know “Jamai”, “Dula Bhai”, all of this stuff. So yeah, this is what it is. Even yesterday, I think when I was playing, they were chanting.

Daily Sun: Previously, you played for Comilla, then way back for Rajshahi.

Moeen: Yeah, feels good. Obviously, it feels a special connection with it. So it feels really good. Most of the people in the UK from Bangladesh are from Sylhet. So yeah, I feel like I'm representing them, which is nice.

Daily Sun: Does your family come here a lot?

Moeen: Yeah, my wife's sister and her partner and their family always come often. I think they'll be here soon. My daughter knows the language, which is great. She speaks. My son does a little bit, but it's more from my daughter, yeah. She speaks well.

Daily Sun: You recently started a podcast. You are someone who looks like enjoying storytelling about the game and taking interviews.

Moeen: It's nice. I think it's good because actually we're doing interviews with people that don't do a lot of podcasts. And I think that's quite important, which is quite nice. Like we've had Shakib. I don't think he's done much before. We did Bravo recently. We got some other ones coming also. I'd love to get Tamim on actually. I think he would be very good. I think Shakib's one did amazingly well. I think that's important that the players that don't really do much media work or speak out they all have stories, which is amazing actually. Like Bravo's story the other day was incredible, so yeah, it's good.

Daily Sun: Does it help you to connect more with the game?

Moeen: I do coaching as well. So I'm coaching some players, county players, and my son and a few other kids. And I think that helps my own game, to be honest with you. Coaching, I enjoy coaching. It's something I'm looking forward to doing after playing.

Daily Sun: You still seem to enjoy the game even more nowadays.

Moeen: I enjoy playing. I love playing. I love being part of a team. I love just being around the whole thing. I've been so used to it, been 20-plus years doing this, so you get used to it. If I don't play, I'll miss it. So coaching is the next best thing.

Daily Sun: And how's life after your international retirement so far?

Moeen: Busy. Very busy. Franchise Leagues. Retirement from international cricket, but franchise is very busy still. And it's good. Alhamdulillah, I can't complain.

Daily Sun: Can you share your view on this December, January and February window where so many leagues are popping up at the same time? How do you see world cricket navigating that problem going forward? Or is there any solution in your mind?

Moeen: Yeah, I think the solution will be like football, where you play international World Cups, ICC, maybe one or two big series. But the rest will be franchise. So it'll be the leagues, and then international cricket would be just less. But the game is in a problem anyway at the moment because of this and then like what's happened to Mustafizur, for example. Yeah, something's not right, to be honest with you. And the game needs something to come in and help everything be proper because it's not just Mustafiz. Obviously, we know Pakistan, Bangladesh, you have issues. It's going to keep happening and it's a problem.

Daily Sun: Since you brought that up, how do you see the recent development involving Mustafizur and the next T20 World Cup?

Moeen: I feel more for Mustafizur more than anything, because he had such a good deal and his career is, for years he's been grafting and doing, and then he finally gets something good and he could have been in the other team, but then KKR got him, and that's, he's the one who's suffering more than anything, really.

Daily Sun: And the following story on the World Cup…

Moeen: Yeah, I think I read today that Bangladesh are just… This is just… I don't blame Bangladesh, but I just think it's silly from whoever is doing all these things, whoever is putting all these things because cricket's different. People play cricket and people love cricket, especially in the subcontinent. People love watching the players play and for Fizz to be playing for, I think, for KKR would have been amazing for Bangladesh, Bangladeshi people, not just here but also in Bengals over there. So it's sad. It's just silly. It's been happening for a long time, but no one's been saying anything. Everyone brushes it under the carpet. It's been happening obviously with Pakistan and I just, ICC is just…

Daily Sun: But ICC is not acting like a governing body of the game.

Moeen: ICC have never been like that anyway, not supposed to have, and that's the fact. But no one says anything. Everybody knows that it's run by…

Daily Sun: Do you feel that countries like Australia and England should step up?

Moeen: They don't speak up. They should. But the world is like that, not just in cricket, in politics, in the world. It's just like that. People have their own agendas, so as long as they're okay, no one cares.

Daily Sun: So how was the experience with Shakib? I mean, obviously your relationship with Shakib goes a long way back.

Moeen: Good. Shakib was amazing actually. He was very relaxed, very open to talk about what he wanted to, anything. Because the guy who hosts, Naveed, who hosts our show, he's also married to a Bangladeshi girl, and he asked Shakib, “Is there anything you don't want to talk about?” He said, “I'll talk about anything, everything.” But yeah, hopefully, Inshallah, I think there'll be maybe a part two to that podcast. He was excellent. Great to spend a bit of time with him actually after a long time. Because I spent time with him, I saw him in Canada also, because he was playing that league, Caribbean League. So he's doing the same as me, playing. But I really, I actually want him to come and play in Bangladesh and finish his career where he wants to finish, over here.

Daily Sun: And do you have any idea about the situation with Shakib and Bangladesh?

Moeen: How unfortunate it is. You see, his situation is tough because he's also gone and said things that are probably crazy. So it's one thing about Shakib — he is a very nice guy. He's just obviously a very special talent, but he does also have a side to him where he kicks the stumps and all that stuff. So yeah, he's a good guy. Top guy.

Daily Sun: When you and Shakib go back a long way, I think way back in 2005, now you guys are still playing different leagues together. Do you think life has come full circle with you and him since your age-level days?

Moeen: Yeah, see, he's one player, him and Tamim. When I see them, there's a different connection because obviously I've known them for a very long time. And when I played for Mohammedan in the Dhaka Premier League, I played with both of them too. And they looked after me really well. They were amazing with me. That was before I played for England, before they were big superstars. They were just obviously good young players. So I have both of them, I have a very special place for them because of the way they looked after me, and we've always stayed in contact. And Shakib also played in county. Tamim, I played against him in county also, and played Test matches, ODIs, all these things.

Daily Sun: When you started your international career, you had a doosra, and because of the ICC crackdown, you stopped bowling that delivery. Everyone thought that was the end of traditional off-spin bowling. But we witnessed something totally different as you, Ashwin and Lyon had incredible careers after that. Talk us through that period of time.

Moeen: I just worked extremely hard. I started off-spin very late in my career. So I just worked hard. Every day I was bowling, bowling, bowling. But I think in Test matches it was all off-spin, all finger spin. When you need to put on a bit of control, wrist spin is very difficult to bowl. So they bowl well in T20s because they bowl a lot of bad balls. Actually, you know who's a very good spinner? Rishad. Excellent spinner. I think he's going to be…

Daily Sun: Have you seen him enough?

Moeen: Yeah, I played with him last year in Comilla, and that's the first time I saw him. And then I watched him, I've been watching him. He's somebody I keep an eye on all the time because I think… did he play in the IPL? I think he will play in the IPL. He's a very, very good spinner, and I think he's one of the best right now.

Daily Sun: What do you like the most about him?

Moeen: Good, strong action. Bowls straight, can spin the ball. His angle is good and he's a good fielder, can bat a little bit. So he's going to be excellent. And he's a really nice guy.

Daily Sun: Talking about off-spin, Shoaib Bashir didn't get a game in Australia, Nathan Lyon too. So where is the game heading, as far as Test cricket is concerned?

Moeen: It's starting to go where just to play a spinner is difficult. So you need a bit of batting. I mean, Lyon is special, so Lyon is different. But Shoaib, he's still young though, he's 21. Sometimes we think he should be playing and stuff, but sometimes him not playing would be best for him. Maybe he played and his career's finished. I used to think the same. I was a top-order batsman all my life. I used to bat in the top four but for England, most of the time I batted seven. Sometimes I think maybe if I batted top four, I wouldn't have played for England that much. But at seven, I brought balance to the team, bowling off-spin. So it's qadr all the time. So I think in Shoaib’s case, maybe it's for the best.

Daily Sun: Do you feel traditional off-spin bowling is in danger because of the way the game is played now?

Moeen: No, I think the traditional off-spinner is still the best option. But they need to be able to bat now. Also, the game's going in T20 cricket, I think in five years' time everybody will be all-rounders. Your whole 11, maybe one or two guys like a special mystery spinner. But it's all all-rounders. The best teams in IPL and the leagues, most money goes on all-rounders like Washington Sundar. So all the players, all the young guys, they'll see this and they'll have to practice to become all-rounders.

Daily Sun: Do you think that will spill over into Test cricket as well?

Moeen: Yeah, definitely. Eventually. Imagine if you have guys who can bat and bowl — you have a left-armer, a right-armer, left-arm spinner, wrist-spinner, off-spinner — you have everything covered. So it's not like four seamers, one off-spinner. Maybe you’ve got a little left-arm spinner, someone like Jacob Bethell. He is a batsman and he bowls left-arm spin. And they're only going to get better. So yeah, it's going that way. But I still think off-spin is the best option.

Daily Sun: Two-day Test matches — what's your thought on that?

Moeen: Terrible. The wickets were terrible. Could've gone anywhere. You know, England could be winning 3–2 easily. Travis Head has been amazing, but he came out and played the Bazball style of cricket. All the Australian players in the two-day games, as soon as they went defending, they also got out. So I think it could have been England. I don't think England batted as well as Australia. Australia have been the better team, don't get me wrong. But it could have been easily the other way around. But two-day Test matches, that's why we're talking about international cricket earlier.

Daily Sun: Do you think the Bazball approach will continue after what happened in this Ashes?

Moeen: Yeah, I hope so. They just have to get better and smarter with it.

Daily Sun: Brendon McCullum will continue?

Moeen: I hope so. He's good. And Stokes is amazing. People forget that before they came from 17–1, and they're still winning games.

Daily Sun: But do you feel that somehow they created high hopes and eventually succumbed to that pressure?

Moeen: I don’t think so. I think they maybe lacked preparation. If you see now, they're playing well. After how long? Six days of cricket. Maybe a little bit more practice on better wickets. And I'm also not saying play a lot of practice matches because I've been there — we played three practice matches, I was there one month before the first game, I was already tired. So there's a balance. But I think they could have done a bit more.