IPL 2019: RCB’s Moeen Ali laments leaving T20 tournament midway

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after losing six matches on the trot in this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has managed to make a comeback. The Virat Kohli-captained team won three out of their last four matches and is at the bottom of the points table. With a requirement of winning all their remaining four games, there is no room for error for the Challengers.

Meanwhile, the team is set to be dealt with a body blow as their English recruit Moeen Ali is set to leave the T20 tournament after the game against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the renowned M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. However, the 31-year-old is not happy leaving the T20 extravaganza at a stage when RCB has a realistic chance of making the cut for the playoffs stage.

“It’s not ideal. I think it’s worse when there are three games to go. If there were 6, 7 games, it was a little more understandable. And knowing that there could be a chance of going through if we win all our games, then you miss out on a potential semifinal and stuff, but I will definitely keep an eye out and see how they are going, hoping that we are winning all our games,” Moeen told the reporters.

Praises for Dale Steyn

Moeen also talked about Dale Steyn, who has already made an impact in the two games he has played. The South African speedster replaced Nathan Coulter-Nile and has picked wickets in the powerplay, something RCB lacked badly in the first eight games.

“Dale has been a huge impact. We did not take wickets in the powerplays. If you take four wickets in powerplays, most of the time you win matches. He has been a class act. The way he swings the ball is a brave thing to do. Probably that has been the missing factor, which cost us games,” Ali mentioned.

As far as the experienced Moeen is concerned, the Phalaborwa-born pacer has scored 216 runs at an average of 30.85. He scored those runs at an average of 168.75 with three half-centuries. Ali also contributed with five wickets with best figures of 2/18.

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