Rohit Sharma’s men have a dangerous batting line-up that includes Yadav, the world’s number one T20 batsman. He completed 1000 T20 runs with a 25-ball 61 this year and is aware of the threat of Moeen Yadav.
“He’s an amazing player, I think he’s the best in the world,” Moeen said. He has probably taken T20 cricket to another level. I think he’s the first of those guys from where you can’t bowl to him when he’s playing well, it’s very difficult and a weakness doesn’t really stick.
England have seen Yadav’s strength this year. He scored his maiden T20 century against England at Trent Bridge in the summer, hitting 14 fours and six sixes. He smashed 117 off 55 balls and led his side to a historic T20 series whitewash on English soil, but Moeen took his crucial wicket as England won by 17 runs in the most recent T20 meeting between the teams.
“He murdered me completely before I got him out,” Moeen Ali said. They still needed a lot of runs and he brought them closer. Thankfully, he was tired when I got him out – that’s how I got him out, I guess. But he played amazingly well, some of the shots he played were some of the best I’ve ever seen.
Moeen said England are the underdogs going into the semi-finals. “It’s the biggest game in T20 cricket in terms of spectators that you can play and play against a top team and cricket in India is such a strength. “That’s what you want as a player. They will be strong contenders for victory. It’s probably the kind of game we need at the moment. If we get over it, it will give us a lot of confidence.