England's Moeen aims to make up for lost time after virus bout
Moeen Ali has set his sights on making a big contribution to England's Test series in India.
LONDON (AFP) - Moeen Ali has set his sights on making a big contribution to England s Test series in India after his comeback was delayed by the coronavirus.
Moeen took a break from Test cricket after being dropped during the 2019 Ashes series against Australia.
The all-rounder had hoped to feature in England s Tests in Sri Lanka earlier this month.
But rather than playing a part in a 2-0 series win, Moeen spent almost two weeks in isolation after testing positive for the virus on arrival in the country.
The 33-year-old, whose Test achievements include 181 wickets and nearly 3,000 runs, experienced three days of symptoms before spending time in self-isolation in a hotel.
He is currently back in quarantine alongside the rest of the squad in India, with everyone obliged to complete six days in their rooms and return three negative results before next week s first Test in Chennai.
"It has been tough but I m a big believer in After hardship comes ease . Hopefully there is some ease after this," Ali said.
"I feel good and I ve been training normally for a while. When I got out for the first four or five days we had to be careful, because I think heart-rate can be an issue after Covid for people who do a bit of running.
"I have no match practice or anything but when we get out of here I ll train as hard as I can, spend time on my feet and try to be ready."
Reflecting on his initial experience of Covid-19, Moeen said: "I was not surprised because once I landed I didn t feel great.
"Part of me was thinking Let s get this over and done with, as long as it s not too bad .
"I had loss of taste for a day or so, splitting headaches for three days, my body was very sore and I ve never experienced that sort of tiredness before in my life. It was three days feeling pretty rough and the rest was fine.
"I didn t want the cough and fever and thankfully I didn t have that. There s part of you that s worried and anticipating it would be bad."
Having experienced the virus first-hand, Ali is backing the United Kingdom s vaccination programme at a time when there is a nervousness among some Muslim communities that the vaccine may be forbidden in Islamic Law.
"Having spoken to people who know quite a bit about it, I d take it and get my family and others to take it," he said.
"It s like any vaccine, there s a lot of conspiracy theories out there but it s just medicine evolving.
"In our community people are sometimes not sure whether to take something -- a bit cautious -- but for things to get back to normal, it s important that we do it."
