England veteran Moeen Ali repaid the faith, claiming 2 for 23 from four overs as defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders overcame Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday in Guwahati. Replacing Sunil Narine, who missed the game due to illness, Moeen Ali, along with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who returned with 2 for 17, restricted RR to 151 for 9. Claiming the wickets Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Rana, Moeen Ali played a massive role as a replacement.
"I was just trying to do my job. Obviously, Sunil (Narine) was a big miss for us. Just tried to stick to my strengths and spin the ball as much as I can, and just contain." said Moeen at the post-match press conference.
“I came on before him [Varun], so my job was to try to bowl tight as I can. And then maybe he can build a bit of pressure as well or get the wicket. I'm used to bowling with somebody who is better than me and has more mystery than me, so my job there is to bowl as tight as I can and hopefully that builds pressure for that person to then get wickets. He’s been bowling outstandingly well,” Moeen said.
"Retired from international cricket, yeah, but I still play a lot of leagues and I still try to stay on top of my game because I still want to play for as long as I can and do well."
KKR, who started their campaign with a defeat, bounced back remarkably against RR to get off the mark with their first win of the season. In their chase, Quinton de Kock stood strong, playing a match-winning 97-run knock unbeaten.
"It's nice to get a win within your first couple of games so that you don't overthink things. Today was a great team performance, everyone bowled well against a good side. We contained really well and never really let them get ahead of the game, which then made our batting a bit easier with Quinny (de Kock) playing the way he did was outstanding."