England Vs India 2018: Joe Root Reveals the Reason of Moeen Ali's Inclusion

England put off the curtains from the playing eleven that will lock horns with India on Thursday (30 August) in Southampton. England decided to go with Moeen Ali after his unrivalled performance in County cricket. He recently slammed a double century apart from taking eight wickets in a similar match.

Joe Root on the selection of Moeen Ali:

“Moeen Ali has done exactly what you’d want him to do,” Root said. “He’s been scoring runs and taking wickets in county cricket and should be full of confidence.”

The all-rounder will replace Ollie Pope, who did not get a dream start to his Test career. Apart from dropping Pope, Chris Woakes will miss the game due to a thing injury.

The left-hand seaming all-rounder, Sam Curran will replace Woakes.

Apart from the team changes, the skipper of the Three Lions, Joe Root informed that Jos Buttler would keep the wickets.

“It’s a lot to ask Jonny to do it with a broken finger, but he’s fit to bat. We have to do the best thing for this team to win the game. There are no guarantees in international sport.”

Moeen Ali shares a good love story with the venue of Southampton. Apart from his county performance, his appearance in 2014 tour of India might have provided an edge. He took six-wicket haul and helped England to wrap up the series with 2-1 win.

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English cricket team will be eyeing to win the Test series while as India, on the other hand, would be looking to stretch it to decider game. The results are hanging by 2-1.

Joe Root said that it is not something new for England to bounce back. He is hopeful that his team will present a good show at the Ageas Bowl against India with the inclusion of Moeen Ali.

“We’ve bounced back from difficult defeats before and that’s the challenge for us to do it again here,” Root concluded.