Moeen Ali made his debut for RCB. (IPL Photo)
England all-rounder Moeen Ali was finally made his IPL debut after being included in the Royal Challengers Bangalore’ playing XI against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. Ali, who had been bought for INR 170 lakh at the auctions, was warming the bench for the last nine matches before being included in place of the misfiring Brendon McCullum. Ali joins the growing list of English players who have taken over the IPL with most of them playing well for their respective teams. While Ali had a forgettable Ashes series, his performances in the shorter formats of the game never took a hit. In 22 T20I, Ali has scored 202 runs at a strike rate of 112.85 and picked up 14 wickets at an average of 28.57.
⬅️Manan Vohra
⬅️Moeen Ali➡️ Murugan Ashwin
➡️ Brendon McCullumYou called for the inclusion of Mo, and here he is in our line-up! What do you make of the #RCB team tonight?#PlayBold #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/ogCG8eg41d
— Royal Challengers (@RCBTweets) 7 May 2018
However, Ali will not be able to complete the season of 2018 as he will have to depart early due to international commitments. Along with him three other players will make the exit – Chris Woakes (RCB), Mark Wood (CSK), Ben Stokes (RR). England will be facing Pakistan in a two-match Test series which begins on May 24.
The right-arm off-spinner began the proceedings for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad and kept things very tight as he ended up giving only 4 runs. He eventually returned with figures of 0/19 in 3 overs. While Moeen Ali made it to the starting XI, Woakes missed the bus in this game.