England spinner Moeen Ali was infected with COVID-19 during England's tour of Sri Lanka earlier this month, and was forced to spend 13 days in isolation as he watched his side securing a 2-0 series victory in the Island nation. Now, Moeen is ready to make a comeback in the team as England prepares for the four-match Test series against India.
Moeen, who has 181 Test wickets to his name, said that the 200-wicket mark is his "biggest motivation" at this point.
"I still feel I've got wickets and runs in me and match-winning performances within me. I have little targets I want to achieve first. I am not too far away from getting 200 wickets. I know people say they don't look at these things but it would be something I would look at. Then I would set another target after that," Moeen said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
However, the spinner also admitted that he has quality competition for his place in the side, following impressive performances from Dom Bess and Jack Leach against Sri Lanka.
"I think I'm fine," said Moeen. "Whether or not I get picked is another matter. Bessy and Leachy I thought did quite well in Sri Lanka and are coming off some good performances. In terms of being ready to play, I think I'll be fine to play, I'll be ready. I've waited long enough."
"I've been working hard with the guys in Sri Lanka and prior to that I was training quite a bit to improve my batting and tweak a few things technically," he said. "It is usually a good wicket to bat and bowl on, even though they got 700 last time. I feel quite good and I'm just ready to go out and perform."
Ali also talked about Indian captain Virat Kohli, who is also his teammate with Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. The England bowler said that Kohli doesn't have "any weakness," adding that the Indian skipper will be motivated to make a comeback.
"How do we get him out? He's obviously an amazing player, world class, he's very motivated to do well and I'm sure he'll be even more motivated after they did well in Australia and he had to leave for the birth of his child," Moeen said. "I don't know how we're going to get him out [specifically] because I don't think he has any sort of weakness but we have a good bowling attack, some pace in the line-up," said Moeen.
"He's a great guy and a good friend of mine - we don't talk too much about cricket. We do a little bit but not too much."
The four-match Test series between India and England begins on Feburary 5 in Chennai.
