England’s Moeen Ali had a tough job. He had to choose his top five Indian cricketers of all time. MS Dhoni, who leads Moeen’s team Chennai Super Kings (CSK), was his first choice. Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar came in second and third.
Ali, even though he never teamed up with Tendulkar, did share the IPL locker room with MS Dhoni and Kohli. Since 2021, Ali has been a key part of CSK. With his help, they won championships in 2021 and 2023.
Ali also played alongside Kohli. This was for the RCB team they shared from 2018 to 2020.
Ali stated in an interview with Samp Group that was posted on their Instagram account:
“For me No. 1 is Dhoni. He was a great player but people forget how good he was. It is everything he won as a captain for India. “Virat (Kohli) No.2 because he is great and one of the best players.”
Moeen Ali
This is the video where Ali ranks the all-time greatest Indian players in his opinion:
Along with praising Tendulkar, Ali acknowledged that selecting the great hitter as his third option was not easy.
“It pains me to say this but he (Sachin) is No.3 because of him being Sachin and I think he started the (art) of proper batting. There was Sunil Gavaskar as well but he was before my era so I didn’t see a lot of him. But Sachin was just different level.”
Moeen Ali
Tendulkar holds the all-time top score in both Tests and ODI. His record shows over 34,000 runs, and an impressive 100 centuries.
Not so long ago, Virat Kohli surpassed Tendulkar’s ODI centuries count of 49. He hit his 50th century in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final. The match was against New Zealand.
Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh complete Moeen Ali’s top five Indian cricketers
Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, past batting greats, were chosen by Moeen Ali for spots 4 and 5 on his list of India’s top cricketers.
These two helped clinch victories for India in the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the ODI World Cup in 2011. They were the cream of the crop in the 2000s and start of 2010s.
Moeen Ali, England’s skilled off-spinner, considers Sehwag his batting idol.
“My favourite batter is Virender Sehwag because he was something different. The way he batted in Test matches, ODIs and T20s, he scored massive and he absolutely destroyed bowlers.”
Moeen Ali
Yuvraj Singh was the batter Ali looked up to and sought to mimic; he was the best to watch when he was in the song, according to Ali.
“The guy I looked up to as a batter…in terms of…of course I would try to copy up to a certain extent and people have compared me to him a little bit so it’s Yuvraj Singh. The bat swing, the way he played and his bat swing was amazing to watch. When in form, he was the best player to watch.”
Moeen Ali
Ali started playing international cricket in 2014. However, his time in the IPL allowed him to interact with all five team members in diverse roles.
In his 59 IPL games, he’s accumulated more than 1,000 runs and netted 33 dismissals.
