England have come under the scanner ever since they have lost the ongoing Ashes series. And then, both the coach and the captain Joe Root faced criticism. So far, England suffered three consecutive defeats in the ongoing Ashes. And, amidst the Test captaincy issue, Moeen Ali slammed Root’s captaincy and compared it with England great Alastair Cook.
However, the veteran spinner, who has retired from the longer format of the game last year, said that Root should be more emotionally close with the players. He commentated that during the coverage of the 4th Ashes Test on BT Sport along with Cook and also took a dig at Cook’s captaincy, stating that under his captain he had batted at different positions, from opening to till number nine as well.
“Cooky would never give me throw downs. Rooty has a bit more of, I would say, an emotional attachment with the players. He probably spends a bit more time with the players,” said Moeen Ali.
To which, Cook responded: “Are you just criticising my captaincy?”
— Liam O’Connor (@liamoconnorrrr) January 5, 2022
However, he was shocked hearing Ali’s reply as the spinner said: “I am a little bit, yeah. They’re both very different. I did do better with the bat under Cooky but with the ball I was better with Rooty,” added Ali.
“I was going to say, I never dropped Mo. So you might criticise me, but I never dropped you. How many times did Rooty drop you?,” questioned Cook in response.
Ali didn’t stop there as he said: “That’s true, but he (Cook) also batted me from one to nine in my first year of international cricket.”
Notably, Moeen Ali has batted with the tailenders in the 2015 Ashes series but opened for his team in England’s tour of Pakistan after some months as well.
Cook, however, tried to defend his plans and said: “I was giving him a chance. I couldn’t work out whether he was a tailender or an opening batsman, so I tried to find the perfect role for him.”
Ali then responded: “To go back to my point, Rooty was a little bit more involved with the players, in my opinion. Not that Cooky didn’t care, but I think Rooty is a bit more arm-over-the-shoulder kind of guy.”
Cook concluded: “I’m not sure how to take this anymore. I’ve just come back from a nice holiday and I’ve walked straight into Moeen Ali off his long run.”
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