Moeen Ali: “It’s the way he played. I tried to copy him as much as I could. And when I was younger, I used to try and bat like him, so like I [used to] lean on the bat… block it for four. But his timing… he’s amazing on the eye”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
England all-rounder Moeen Ali has revealed that he tried to copy Pakistan opening batsman Saeed Anwar as much as he could.
He acknowledged that Anwar had such great timing and was “amazing on the eye” as he played with such style and grace.
On top of that, he pointed out many of the players of that era would readily agree that Anwar “was one of the best”.
Anwar represented Pakistan in 55 Tests and scored 4,052 runs, which included 11 hundreds and 25 fifties, at an average of 45.52.
The 57-year-old from Karachi also played 247 ODIs and made 8,824 runs, which included 20 centuries and 43 half-centuries, at an average of 39.21.
“It’s the way he played. I tried to copy him as much as I could. And when I was younger, I used to try and bat like him, so like I [used to] lean on the bat… block it for four. But his timing… he’s amazing on the eye. I think with him, if you speak to a lot of the players of that era, they will say like he was one of the best,” Moeen said on the Beard Before Wicket podcast.
The Pakistan team recently faced Bangladesh in a three-match T20I series in Lahore, which they won 3-0.
They then toured Bangladesh for three T20Is and ended up losing 2-1.
As for the tour of the West Indies, the men in green triumphed 2-1 in the T20Is, but lost the ODIs 2-1.
They turned things around in the T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah as they went on to win the tournament.
Pakistan are now featuring in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
They kicked things off with a 93-run win over Oman before losing to India by seven wickets.
Pakistan’s next game will be against the UAE on September 17 in Dubai.
Pakistan squad for UAE T20I tri-series and 2025 Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
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