Moeen Ali reveals what it is like to work with Saqlain Mushtaq

England all-rounder says working with former off-spinner was one of the best things

England all-rounder Moeen Ali opened up on Monday about his short learning stint with former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.

Saqlain joined the England side for a 10-day period after Pakistan won the first Test at Lord’s courtesy Yasir Shah’s heroics. He was called on to help Moeen and leggie Adil Rashid before the second Test at Old Trafford.

“Working with Saqlain was one of the best things that has happened to me,” said Moeen. “He was brilliant tactically and mentally. He focused mainly on the mental aspects of bowling and didn't say much about the technical side of the game as he was obviously only there for a short period of time. Most of his advice was about tactics, field placings and about the opposition batsmen that I was up against.”

The England off-spinner said he is looking forward to working with the Pakistani magician again. “I feel that he has improved my bowling a lot and I'm looking forward to hopefully working with him again in future as he's been amazing in the work he has done with both Adil Rashid and me.”

On Misbah

Misbah scored a ton at Lord’s. PHOTO: AFP

Moeen was all praise for Pakistan Test captain Misbahul Haq, who he believed, at 42 years of age, had surprised everyone in the English dressing room and earned their respect.

“He [Misbah] is amazing,” said Moeen. “All of the England players have a lot of respect for him. He controls the Pakistan team and the way he leads the team just commands respect. At 42 he is still churning out the runs and the way he batted actually surprised a lot of us. We knew that mentally he is tough and very good but what was really impressive was the way he played so late. He's an outstanding player and he's been brilliant for Pakistan cricket.”

On Younus

The 29-year-old applauded Younus Khan’s double century in the fourth and last Test of series which Pakistan won to level the series 2-2.

Younus' double ton came after a slump in form throughout the Test series. PHOTO: AFP

Before that, Younus had been out of form and his new jumping-and-hopping style of batting was being blamed for a slump in run-scoring.

“There is a lot to learn from Younus,” said Moeen. “We knew that he was struggling but as with class players and players who have scored a lot of runs in the past, you know that they will always come good at some stage in the series. The double-hundred that he scored [in Manchester] was obviously fantastic.”

Moeen, the southpaw batsman, also compared him to Misbah and said that they both were similar in many ways and both have earned his respect due to their nice nature.

“In many ways, he's like Misbah; at that sort of age where he just churns out runs all the time. The likes of Younus and Misbah are very difficult to bowl at when they are playing well. The best thing about Misbah and Younus is that they are really nice people and I have a lot of respect for guys like that,” he said.

On Amir

Amir had less wickets than expected due to drop catches off his bowling. PHOTO: AFP

Moeen says Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir delivered what he was expected to and the team had no hard feelings for him due to his past.

“He was always the danger bowler for Pakistan,” said Moeen. “I feel that he bowled fantastically well and I know that he never got the rewards his bowling deserved due to catches being dropped off his bowling. He's still a super bowler and I feel he will get better, the more Test matches he plays.”

He added: “It's good to see him back in international cricket as he is a top bowler. I've got to know him over these past few weeks and he's a really nice guy. There were no problems from our side with Amir being back in international cricket. We spoke about it before the series and felt that everyone makes mistakes at some point in their lives. Amir also made his mistake and he served his time out of the game.”

He continued, “Once he was back playing against us, we respected him as a person and a cricketer. There was nothing against him from our side and he just put his head down and concentrated on working hard for his team. He was a big part in why Pakistan drew the Test series.”

Moeen Ali was interviewed by PakPassion.net