SRINAGAR: In a first, a Kashmiri origin player led the England cricket team against Australia. Moeen Ali, an allrounder captained the English side in the last T20 match at Southampton on Tuesday. Moeen got the chance to lead the team when Eoin Morgan, the English Skipper got injured in the second match.
Moen has a Kashmiri ancestry. It was two generations ago that his grandfather migrated to England. His grandparents lived in Mirpur.
“When Morgs told me last night, I was over the moon,” he said. “I don’t feel proud a lot of the time, but that was one of my proudest moments. To lead my country out was amazing. I’ll never, ever forget it,” reported ESPN.
“It’s an absolute honor to captain your country,” said Moeen Ali at the toss.
Earlier this year when Ali made his debut for Multan Sultans in Pakistan Super League PSL he had expressed his deep desire to visit Kashmir wherein his grandfather and mother were born.
Ali, however, is not the first Muslim to have headed the English cricket team.
