Moeen Ali backs Glenn Maxwell's decision of taking international break for mental health

Ahead of the IPL 2020 auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore by releasing as many as 12 players from their squad. Aiming to win their maiden IPL title, the Virat Kohli-led side retained only two foreign players for the upcoming season. One of the two foreign players was English international Moeen Ali. The left-handed batsman has the ability to contribute with the ball as well.

Recently, Glenn Maxwell announced his withdrawal from Australia’s recent series against Sri Lanka for mental-health reasons. Many prominent names including Virat Kohli acknowledged Maxwell’s decision. After the Indian skipper, Moeen Ali has also come out in support of the Australian. According to Moeen, there’s too much of international cricket being played at the moment because of which players are becoming mentally exhausted.

The left-hander has been assigned the skipper’s role by Team Abu Dhabi in the on-going T10 League. The 32-year-old had taken a break from international cricket after England’s successful campaign in the ICC World Cup 2019. Moeen had made himself unavailable for the ongoing New Zealand tour and the South Africa series after that.

“I had a break but it wasn’t for mental reasons. I took the break because I felt tired. There’s so much cricket played at the moment. Mentally, you become tired. You feel drained up doing the same warm-up and other things while playing the game,” said Moeen on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi T10 League.

Morgan is the best captain I have played under: Moeen Ali

Moeen, who is expected to play a crucial role in RCB’s hunt for the IPL trophy, highlighted that the franchise just can’t rely on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to win matches for them. He also stressed on the fact that other batsmen needed to step up and deliver match-winning innings for the franchise.

Moeen also heaped praises on Eoin Morgan, who steered England to their maiden World Cup title after defeating New Zealand in a nail-biting final earlier this year. “Morgan is definitely the best captain that I have played under. He is very calm, his man-management skills are amazing. He is a great guy and all the players love him,” said Moeen.