Moeen Ali urges England to follow India's example and play a more fearless brand of ODI cricket

Moeen Ali

England all-rounder Moeen Ali, whose 67 was the lone highlight in England’s crushing 9-wicket defeat at the hands of India at Edgbaston, has urged his England team-mates to adopt a braver approach to ODI cricket. Ali had missed out on the first two games of the ongoing series but got a chance in the last one and impressed one and all with his strokeplay.

Ali said that he took a leaf out of Suresh Raina’s book after seeing him strike a brilliant 100 off just 74 balls when India were in a precarious position in the 2nd ODI in Cardiff.

"Watching someone like Suresh Raina, they were in trouble and he came out and played the way he played," Ali told reporters at Headingley on Thursday.

"He took a few risks and they came off. He backed himself.

"I tried to copy it a little a bit," added Ali, who could well be promoted up the order from number seven on Friday.

"It's something I go back to a lot and probably should do all the time," the 27-year-old off-spinning all-rounder added.

"Take it to them, there is no point in being the same and getting out the same way all the time," he explained.

"I'd rather get caught on the boundary or stumped trying to do something then try and knock it around all the time."

People have often attributed England’s long-standing failure in ODI cricket to the players not taking the format seriously enough. However, when asked about whether England care about the shorter format of the game, the 27-year old said: "Definitely. It doesn't even cross our minds (not to)."

Ali calls for British Asians’ support for the home team

Ali also urged British Asians to support England rather than the country that their family belongs to. On Tuesday, a majority of the crowd was passionately cheering for India and even booed a couple of the England players including Ali for his Pakistan roots, which is strange considering that he is actually Birmingham-born.

"It doesn't really bother me. I just go out and block it out and try and play as best as I can," he said of the jeering directed his way.

"Obviously the noise for the India players was a lot more than ours but it doesn't bother me one bit, he said.

"Definitely - and they've got a Brummy (Birmingham) accent or whatever and some of the chants are English chants.

"But it's just the way it is, hopefully over time we can change.

"I spoke to a lot of people and there were a lot of Asians there who were supporting England as well.

"But, obviously, the majority were supporting India."

Still backing Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook, England captain, has once again come under intense scrutiny. His own ODI form in the last 2 years not being up to scratch in addition to England’s failure to win a home ODI series for two years running has led to pundits – most notably Michael Vaughan and Graeme Swann - calling for Cook to be completely removed from the ODI side.

Ali, however, insists that nothing has changed from the Test series and that the England captain has got the backing of the entire team.

"He's been the same as he was (in the Tests)," Ali said. "He's been Cooky, trying to get everyone playing well, trying to do well for himself and I'm sure tomorrow (Friday) he can do that and play well.

"He's got all our backing and, like any other game for England, we're trying to do our best."