India vs England: Despite Saqlain's presence, Moeen seeks out Harbhajan

LONDON: Moeen Ali has had a good series with the ball, but on Saturday he wasn't happy with his own performance. The offie felt he couldn't make best use of the rough outside the right-hander's off stump and even though, he has somebody like Saqlain Mushtaq in his dug-out, the 31-year-old sought the help of former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
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"Moeen felt that he wasn't doing enough with the rough outside the offstump and that's why he asked me to have a look at how he was going about his business," Harbhajan told TOI on Sunday.
The Indian offie, who has played for Surrey and knows how The Oval pitch behaves, told Moeen to forget completely about the rough. "I told him that he was doing just fine, just that he was trying a little too much to hit the rough. But this pitch, unlike Ageas Bowl, doesn't have huge cracks, so it is more about bowling on a good pitch," Harbhajan said.
According to Bhajji, Moeen's intention should have been to work more on his pace rather than trying to get as much purchase as he was getting out of the Southampton track, where he finished with nine wickets. "Sometimes, when the cracks are not that big, the outside edge comes as much into play as the inside edge. I told Moeen he wouldn't get those inside-edge bat pads as easily as he was getting at Ageas Bowl. So all he needed to do was relax and go about his job," Bhajji said.
Moeen probably listened to the Indian off-spinner and did exactly that and the two wickets that he got on Sunday afternoon were from deliveries that pitched on the side of the rough and went straight through. "It's good to see that Moeen followed what I said. The cracks could get bigger in the second innings and then the dynamics may again change," Bhajji added.
These could be ominous words for India as they have struggled batting fourth.