“Best captain ever lived” – Moeen Ali on MS Dhoni ahead of IPL 2023

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has praised his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni ahead of IPL 2023. He believes that the legendary wicketkeeper batter is the best skipper ever. The 35-year-old credited the veteran for helping him improve his game.

Speaking to Gulf News, Ali said:

“MS is probably the best captain ever lived. He is a brilliant guy, and there’s so much about him. He talks a lot about cricket and talks a lot of sense. Very approachable and has really helped my game the way I play now. He gave me confidence. He is certainly a people’s captain.”

Dhoni is the most successful captain in international cricket, with all three ICC trophies – the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. The 41-year-old has helped CSK win four IPL trophies. He has won 123 out of 210 games as IPL captain at a win percentage of 58.85.

Ever since joining CSK from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2021, Ali has scored 601 runs and scalped 15 wickets in 25 IPL games. He had previously scored 309 runs and picked up 10 wickets in 19 games during his stint at RCB (2018-2020).

Moeen Ali is part of both the 2019 World Cup and T20 World Cup 2022 winning teams under Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, respectively.

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“Chennai Super Kings is the best franchise” – Moeen Ali

Ali further said that he is proud to be a part of CSK's entire setup who give their best to succeed in the tournament.

“First of all, Chennai Super Kings is the best franchise I have played, due to the way the entire set-up is. They have been running that way for a very long time successfully and they know what it takes to win.”

Ali is also excited to play in front of the home crowd as the IPL returns to the home and away games format after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am really looking forward to playing in Chennai for CSK. There is a huge fan support.”

CSK squad for IPL 2023: MS Dhoni (c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma.