Moeen Ali average spinner: Bishan Singh Bedi

Chenna: Moeen Ali is neither a mystery off-spinner nor a tweaker par excellence. But the wickets column in the English offie’s bowling analysis against India reads 19 in four Tests. Ali, presumed to be a stopgap bowler so that the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad could have their feet up for a while, has now become a nightmare for the Indian batsmen especially when it comes to facing him in the second innings.

What makes the 27-year-old a potent weapon in Alastair Cook’s arsenal? It’s even more bemusing as to why the Indian spinners aren’t able to pose a semblance of a threat against an inexperienced English batting unit.

Legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi feels Ali is just “an average spinner”, while his compatriot and former off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna termed the Englishman as a batsman who can bowl.

“One should ask the Indian batsmen as to how they rate him as a spinner! As far as I’m concerned he is an old-fashioned off-break bowler and nothing much to add to it,” said Bedi and slammed the Indian batsmen for their ludicrous approach for the downfall. The former left-arm spinner was particularly severe on the top-order batsmen “who lacked adept technique in handling a spinning ball as a result of playing excessive T20 cricket.” “Keep Test cricketers away from T20. Only then can we succeed,” he said.

A genius of an off-spinner himself, Prasanna felt that Ali bowled well within his limitations. “One must give credit to Ali for bowling to the fields set to him. He proved that the Indian batsmen are susceptible to spin bowling,” added the 74-year-old. The spin twins of the late sixties were unanimous in stating that it was the presence of Anderson and Broad which made things happen.