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Moeen reveals the struggles in his cricket journey, says it gives him goosebumps even today

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Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Moeen Ali has revealed the struggles he had to go through in his cricketing journey, saying that the mere thought of the tough road he traversed gives him “goosebumps” today.

Following an extremely successful IPL 2021 season with CSK, where he played a key role in the Chennai franchise clinching its fourth title in the UAE, the England player, who quit Test cricket to prolong his white-ball career, has had a patchy IPL 2022.

As the IPL 2022 season ended prematurely for the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side, Moeen reflected on the struggles he faced in his formative years and how determination and passion for the sport helped him overcome the hurdles.

He revealed that his family didn’t even have one Pound on some days to make ends meet, forcing them to survive on sandwiches or cucumber.

“My dad had a huge passion for the game… him and as well as the twin brothers. Between the families, there were five of us, so my cousins played, I played my younger brother played. I just remember I was eight years old (when) I started playing with my brothers in the park, and I could feel that they were also getting better. So, then I took a trial when I was 19, and it was the first time that I ever played with a hard ball and stuff,” the 34-year-old all-rounder said on CSK TV.

“That was the start and I was soon playing county cricket at a young age, doing well and loving the game. It was football, cricket, football, cricket. Cricket was my dad’s passion and we just carried on,” added Moeen.

Moeen said that his father had to juggle between his work as a psychiatric nurse and taking the children for county games, adding that sometimes he could not afford petrol, and occasionally food.

“At first, we were not very well off… we did not have a lot of money. My dad worked as a psychiatric nurse, which means you have to see people struggle mentally and stuff in the hospital. But at the same time, he had to take me and my brothers for county games, trials and training. He could not afford petrol; he could not afford sometimes, food. It was very difficult. Sometimes all three of us had a game the same day, a county game which was really unfortunate. We had one car, a terrible car between two families and so once the petrol and everything is done, we had just one pound left for the whole day. We had to get bread, sometimes cucumber and sandwich.

“That is the struggle… and it wasn’t just my dad and uncle. It was my mum and aunt, them getting the clothes ready, making sure everything was on time. It was always a rush. Very, very difficult times, but the best times,” added Moeen.

“That was one of the many, many stories where financially we really struggled. My uncle and dad turned up selling chickens just to provide for the next game. I didn’t even have my own pads at one point of time… I had to use my dad’s friend’s son’s pads for trials. So, very difficult but amazing days. I became professional very early and things got better and better.”

On the cricket field, Moeen rose quickly, first starting as a seam-bowling all-rounder before taking to off-spin on the insistence of a coach. Back issues while bowling seam played a part in the decision.

“For me it was just the normal thing to play every day. I didn’t know what it was to be a professional. I just thought this is life, I am playing every day, and my dad said, from 13 to 15, give me two years of your life. After school, we train, and we go outside in the park. Do whatever it takes. And after that, you do whatever you want. And that was the mindset that got me training everyday.

“Our area where we were living, it was a very rough area, fighting and all. But I just wanted to play cricket. We were adamant we were going to make it and that is something that came from my dad, just try better than everybody. Not in an arrogant way, but just work harder than everybody else. Just thinking about it now makes me get goosebumps because you think where you come from and it is a great reminder for myself about my own humble background,” added Moeen.

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‘The Doctors Warned Me’: Neymar Gives Update About Injury After Limping Off Just 30 Minutes Into His Second Al-Hilal Appearance

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Brazilian superstar Neymar recently made his comeback to the football pitch in Al Hilal’s match against Esteghlal. However the joy was shortlived as Neymar was substituted after 30 minutes into the match. The 32 year-old forward had to come off with three minutes remaining, having seemed to pull up after stretching his leg out for the ball in the penalty area.

After the match Neymar updated about his injury on social media, he said: “I felt like a CRAMP but very strong! I will do exams and hope it’s nothing more It’s normal for this to happen after 1 year, the doctors had already warned me, this is why I need to be careful and have more minutes to play.”

Neymar’s struggle with injury

Al Hilal had planned a slow return for Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, who suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury during Brazil’s qualifier against Uruguay shortly after joining the Saudi side and underwent surgery last November.

Neymar undewent knee operation, only making his return two weeks ago when he came off the bench late in the AFC Champions League win against Al-Ain. It is not yet known how severe Neymar’s latest issue, but the ex-Barcelona star will be out of action for the next three weeks regardless.

Neymar was also left off Brazil’s latest squad for a pair of November World Cup qualifiers, with coach Dorival saying the team and federation didn’t want to rush his return to the national team.

Despite Neymar getting injured, Al-Hilal managed a 3-0 win against their Iranian opponents thanks to a hat-trick from Aleksandar Mitrovic. Al-Hilal remains top of the 12-team group, where the top eight will advance to the Round of 16. It is above Saudi Arabian rival Al-Ahli on goal difference after the team from Jeddah thrashed Al-Shorta of Iraq 5-1

Whats next for Al Hilal?

Al-Hilal’s next match is scheduled on Nov 25, where they will be facing Al-Sadd. Currently Al Hilal have topped the chart by winning 4 out of 4 matches.

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‘No Place For Criminals In Society’: Vinicius Junior Supports Lamine Yamal Following Racist Chants Against Him During Real Madrid vs Barcelona Match

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Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior has come out in support of Lamine Yamal who was subjected to racial abuse during El Clasico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Vinicius have been outspoken against racism in football, addressing the abuse he has personally endured.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) Vincius wrote, “It’s regrettable what happened yesterday at the Bernabéu with racist insults. There is no place for these criminals in our society. All my support to Lamine, Ansu and Raphinha. I know that Madrid and the police will do things to identify and punish the guilty!!

Yamal who scored in Barcelona’s stunning win, became a target of racist chanting from a section of fans at the Santiago Bernabéu. The incident has led LaLiga to open an investigation. The club released a statement which said, “Real Madrid strongly condemns any behavior involving racism, xenophobia, or violence in football and sports,” 

“Real Madrid has launched an investigation to locate and identify the perpetrators of these regrettable and despicable insults, in order to take the appropriate disciplinary and legal actions.”

Barcelona beats Real Madrid

Barcelona ha the first bragging right of the season in the El Clasico with 4-0 win over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu. Besides Yamal, Lewandowski and Rapinha were the other goal scorers. The loss meant Real Madrid lost the opportunity to equal FC Barcelona’s record of 43 unbeaten matches in La Liga history occurring between 2017 and 2018.

However, Yamal managed to break Alfonso Navarro’s 77-year-old record when he scored a goal in El Classico. Navarro was 17 years and 356 days old when he accomplished the feat, but Yamal did it in 17 years and 106 days. Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe had two goals ruled out for offside on a frustrating first Clasico appearance for Los Blancos, who now trail league leaders Barcelona by six points.

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‘No Concerns About KL’: Ryan Ten Doeschate Defends Struggling Team India Batter Ahead Of 2nd Test vs New Zealand

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India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday that middle-order batters KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan are locked in a selection battle for the second Test against New Zealand here even though head coach Gautam Gambhir is keen to give the former, a long rope.

With India looking to bounce back from the eight-wicket thrashing at Bengaluru in the opening Test, focus will be on the team combination with Washington Sundar being added to the squad. Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are both aiming to shake off injury concerns for the match starting Thursday.

“Yeah, there’s no point in sugarcoating it, there’s a fight for a spot,” ten Doeschate told the media when asked if Rahul and Sarfaraz were battling for a place in the team, here at the MCA Stadium ahead of India’s training session.

“Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn’t play at (and) miss at one ball and that’s what tends to happen when you’re not getting runs.

“There’s certainly no concerns about KL, he’s batting nicely, he’s in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what’s going to be best for the team,” he said.

Sarfaraz scored a second-innings 150 in the Bengaluru game, while Rahul remained off-colour in both essays.

While admitting that it is difficult to keep Rahul out of the equation in the Test format, ten Doeschate said head coach Gautam Gambhir is “keen to” give him a long rope.

“It’s not like we’re worried about his form. If you go on just the past three months since Gauti has been in here, he’s keen to give him (Rahul) as much rope as we can. We have a lot of faith in him,” he said.

“But at the same time, it’s a very competitive environment, with Sarfaraz getting 150 plus runs (222 not out) in the Irani Trophy final. The decision will be what’s best for the team, but we’ll certainly back all the guys in,” he added.

“He’ll be good to keep in the Test as well” – Ryan Ten Doeschate on Rishabh Pant

Pant, who did not keep wickets for a significant part of the opening Test, and Shubman Gill, who missed the match due to stiffness in his neck, are close to attaining their full fitness.

“Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharmna) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he’ll be good to keep in the Test as well,” he said.

“He (Gill) looks so (available for this Test). He has batted last week in Bangalore, he had a few nets, he’s got a little bit of discomfort, but I think he’ll be good to go for the Test,” he added.

Ten Doeschate said the addition of Washington Sundar is “no desperate measure” but to add a bowling option who would take the ball away from the Kiwis left-handers.

“Definitely not. They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It’s also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well.”

“We just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for conditions here and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.

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