Indian cricket is currently worried about two retirements: Rohit Sharma's from international cricket and MS Dhoni's from the IPL. The growing prominence of T20 franchise leagues are posing a threat to international cricket. Former England player Moeen Ali, who currently plays for KKR in the IPL, has opinions about the problems. He made a statement about Indian cricket players in general without mentioning any specific name.
Moeen, 37, appears to be a happy man these days. Moeen has been a member of two IPL winning teams and has won the Ashes, ODI World Cup, and T20 World Cup. Having already retired from international cricket on his own terms, Moeen is currently playing in the T20 leagues with the intention of becoming a coach.
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Moeen also draws an intriguing contrast between quitting T20 tournaments like the IPL and international cricket. “Franchisee cricket is one thing, which is like a privately owned enterprise. You can continue playing if the franchisee is fine with it,” Moeen told The Indian Express.
“And it is a T20. But when you’re representing a country, be it a Test or an ODI, the self-reflection should be harder. If England was a franchise, I would have carried on playing because I know I am capable. But because it’s England and it’s international cricket, and there is always a bigger group of players to pick from, I retired to make way.”
When it was mentioned that some Indian players are really famous and that even the selectors may find it difficult to take the hard calls, Moeen responded "it's better if it comes from the individuals of course."
“I definitely think you shouldn’t just hold on because you’re a big name or you have a massive following. And it should never be your own personal goals.”
According to Moeen, it is up to the individuals to decide when to retire. “Don’t just hold on for the sake of holding on in a selfish way. Just be a bit more realistic and think, is it worth me holding on? Have I got more to give to the team? If the team wants to go in a new direction, I think you should allow that to happen. If you’re not performing and you’re at that age where you’re a bit older and there’s younger players coming through and they’re probably playing better than you right now. It doesn’t mean they’re better than you now, but they’re playing better than you. Then you should be a bit more realistic and honest with yourself.”
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The team's intended direction should be clear, according to Moeen. “For example, it was fine for James Anderson to play until 40 as he was still good, and at that stage England wanted to go in a different direction with youngsters; so he had to step down. If the team wants to go younger, you take the hint and you move on.”
Moeen, who spent four years playing for CSK, used MS Dhoni's retirement as an example to explain his IPL vs country difference. “Is there a better keeper than Dhoni right now? He’s still keeping amazingly well. He’s probably one of the better batters in CSK so far this year. And when I was there, he was one of the better batters all the time. CSK haven’t been batting so well and some are saying somebody should come in for Dhoni. And this is what happens when a team doesn’t win. And as I said playing in the IPL is different from representing your country with a larger pool of available talent.”
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Moeen is also realistic about the debate surrounding the future of Test cricket. “It is scary the way it’s going with so many T20 leagues crunching international cricket. T20 cricket is nowhere near as hard as Test cricket. No doubt about that. But the world is changing, I see lots of younger players are more focussed about just playing in IPL or other T20s. That’s the way it is.”
Moeen believes that Test cricket will soon be shortened to a four-day competition. “I see them as four-day games as that frees up valuable time from the calendar. I also see teams playing just a three-Test series rather than five Tests.”
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Moeen has a way to lessen the strain of having too many cricket matches on the schedule and give the matches greater significance. “The bilateral T20 and ODI series is beginning to lose attraction now. Instead, I wish the countries would play more tri-series with white ball. Like they used to do in the distant past. I think you’re basically killing two birds with one stone in terms of that. You can play Pakistan, New Zealand, India there or Australia, South Africa, England or whatever the case may be. Different tri-series happening around can add value and spectator interest. Then we have the Champions Trophy and the World Cups of course.”
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