Moeen Ali said that while England are a dangerous team to play against, they will not start as favourites for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The England all-rounder added that India and defending champions Australia are favourites to win the marquee ICC event as well. Notably, England significantly boosted their confidence by winning the seven-match T20I series against Pakistan by a 4-3 margin as well.

Ali, who led in Jos Buttler’s absence, stated that the series win against Pakistan will serve as a confidence-booster ahead of the T20 World Cup. However, he refused to look beyond that. He was quoted as saying by India Today: “We’re really happy to win this series and we go to Australia in a really good position, but I don’t think we’re favourites for the World Cup. If I’m honest, I don’t feel that way at all, but I know we are a very dangerous team to play and other teams will fear playing us. But I still think Australia and India are the two favourites. If you look at the last two games of this series, both must-win matches, going into a World Cup that’s really important, because the pressure to perform was huge.”

It’s worth mentioning that England clinched the series without the likes of Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone in their team. Batting first, the visitors posted 209 and restricted Pakistan to 142 in 20 overs. While talking about the huge win, Ali believes the game went England’s way from the beginning and gave the credit to his side for performing well.

“Brilliant game from us, we played well from the start. I thought our bowling was outstanding. Throughout the series, we bowled really well. When the team is batting like that, it gives a lot of confidence. Credit to the boys for the way they played. We needed two must-win games. It was amazing to see how we won the last two games. Also, it shows the depth we have in our squad. Just want to say thank you to everyone, and the PCB for looking after us,” Moeen Ali concluded.