“India are a little bit undercooked”: Moeen Ali reckons England as favourites to win fifth Test vs India at Edgbaston

Moeen Ali reckons England as favourites to win the rescheduled fifth Test match set to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from Friday.

Sans KL Rahul, and maybe sans skipper Rohit Sharma as well, team India will take on England at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground, in Birmingham, during the rescheduled ‘fifth’ Test match of the Pataudi Trophy series after the same had to be postponed last year due to a spree of COVID-19 cases in the Indian camp.

Having last played a Test match series against Sri Lanka in March this year, a majority of the Indian team players have been continuously playing the shortest format of the game since then, with the recently concluded warm-up match against Leicestershire the only Red ball match experience they have had collectively after around four months.

England, on the other hand, under the new Test captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, seem to have found their mojo back, as they annihilated World Test champions New Zealand 3-0, a few days ago at home.

Moeen Ali reckons England as favourites

It is on the basis of the aforementioned series whitewash inflicted upon New Zealand, that England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes would act to their advantage when they play the one-off Test match against India beginning Friday.

“If this series had ended last year, India might have won.” If you had questioned me 4-5 weeks ago, I would’ve predicted India’s victory. But now I believe England will come out on top. “India is a little undercooked,” Moeen exclaimed from Birmingham.

“India had four games under their belt last year.” They have had a practice match and some net training this time. England, in my viewpoint, are the favorite right now because they have just started playing three good Tests and are playing very confidently, especially in comparison to last year,” he further added.

Ali, who played his last Test against India at The Oval last year, had announced his retirement from the format soon after, citing a lack of enjoyment under the then team management with Joe Root as the skipper. Incidentally, he was elected as England’s vice-captain on his last Test of his international career.

Moeen Ali has been named as England’s vice-captain for the fourth Test against India at the Oval starting on Thursday #ENGvsIND #Cricket

— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) September 1, 2021

He, however, opened up on his Test comeback and the possibility of donning the Whites yet again under the present coach Brendon McCullum, while expressing his desire to play the away Test series against Pakistan post the T20 World Cup this year.