‘You took it personally’: Moeen Ali, Alastair Cook involved in yet another on-air argument – WATCH

Former England Test captain Alastair Cook was once again involved in an on-air argument with all-rounder Moeen Ali during the ongoing second Test between England and New Zealand at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. The duo had earlier had an on-air spat during the Ashes 2021-22 where England lost 4-0 against Australia Down Under. Moeen had then taken a shot at Cook’s captaincy and praised former England captain Joe Root.

The incident had happened during the Ashes when Ali was commentating with Cook during a game and went on to praise Root by stating that he had more emotional attachment with his players compared to Cook. His comments didn’t go down well with the former England captain, who responded by saying – “Are you just criticising my captaincy?”

In response, Moeen went on to admit he did criticise Cook’s captaincy ‘a little bit’ before the former England captain reminded him how he had been frequently dropped from the English Test side by Root. Ali was in no mood to hold back and reminded Cook how he played him across all batting positions from 1 to 9 during his first year in international cricket and also insisted he was a better bowler under Root.

“That’s true, but you also batted me from 1 to 9 in my first year of international cricket,” Moeen told Cook during the on-air argument between the duo. While it was expected, the duo had buried their differences post the argument, it happened once again during Day 2 of the ongoing second Test between England and New Zealand on Saturday.

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Moeen was once again sharing the commentary box with Cook, who decided to bring up their argument last time around and said Moeen had already told everyone in the studio that he was not a very good captain and that Cook would also not make a very good coach.

“I was coming back from a holiday, walking straight back to the studio at midnight. I met the all-smiling Mo (Moeen), as he always is, very happy. Anyway, half an hour into the shift, he basically told everyone who is watching and listening, ‘I wasn’t a very good captain and I wouldn’t be a very good coach’. That’s kind of how it went. So, I actually feel as if I have nothing to defend here,” Cook said on BBC’s Test Match Special.

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Moeen then went on to explain his previous comments and told Cook he was not comparing him with Root. The England all-rounder said he only wanted to put across that Root had “a lot more empathy” for his players. He also told Cook that he took his comments personally to the heart and they went viral.

“It was a little bit out of context. I was basically saying that Rooty had a lot more empathy for players than you did! And I never mentioned once that you’re not a good captain or if you are or aren’t better than Rooty. And then, you took it personally to heart and it went viral,” Moeen said.