English cricketer and Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) all-rounder Moeen Ali has been in the news after he refused to wear the logo of an alcohol brand on his IPL jersey. Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen spoke against Moeen Ali, she wrote: "If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS (Daesh)," on Twitter.

Taslima Nasreen's deleted tweet

This irked a lot of reactions from fans and celebrities, alike. But Moeen Ali’s father, Munir Ali wrote a full article describing the struggles of Moeen Ali as a cricketer and especially, a Muslim cricketer with a beard.

He was shocked at the statements made by Taslima Nasrin, he wrote: “Of all the people to pick on for her agenda, I can’t believe she has chosen my son. Everyone in the cricketing world knows the person he is.”

“I am hurt and shocked to read Taslima Nasreen’s vile remark against my son Moeen. In her “clarifying” tweet, where she described her original remark as sarcasm, she also says she stands against fundamentalism. If she looks into a mirror, she will know what she tweeted is what is fundamentalist – a vicious stereotype against a Muslim person, a clearly Islamophobic statement.

A young Moin Ali with his father.

“If I get to meet her someday, I will tell what I really think of her on her face. For now, I would ask her to pick a dictionary and see the meaning of sarcasm,” Munir Ali wrote in an article published in an Indian newspaper.

“I remember sitting at the ground at Worcester years ago when Moeen walked out to bat. A loud voice shouted, “shave off the beard!” I had already been hearing some murmurs in the cricketing world about Moeen’s faith. Even some coaches. They would gently tell you, “look, this is England, think about that beard”. I was worried and went to Moeen, who told me in a clear voice that this was him. That he wasn’t going to bother about the criticism. That’s his strong character.”

In the concluding remarks, Munir Ali also wrote that English cricket has changed and everyone in England cricket loves and respects Moeen Ali.

Taslima Nasreen later deleted her tweet after she received a lot of criticism from a varied set of people which included England fast-bowler Jofra Archer.

https://twitter.com/JofraArcher/status/1379412296410222594

https://twitter.com/BenDuckett1/status/1379411394475528196

Recently, netizens pulled out an old video when Moeen Ali is seen giving an interview to a female anchor during the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The fans, through this video, wanted to establish that Moeen Ali is a decent person. He is seen lowering his gaze and avoiding an eye-contact with the female anchor. Here is the video that is making rounds:

https://twitter.com/KhudroM/status/1379475531729563655

Moeen Ali has a history of being a shy person who has his own set of religious belliefs. He is respected in the England team as well. Previously, in various match celebration, Moeen Ali, along with teammate Adil Rashid always flee away from the spot right before the champagne celebrations begin.

This is a constant thing which has been a part of Moeen Ali’s personality due to his religious beliefs. Thus, to drop the alcohol logo from Ali’s Chennai Super Kings jersey hasn’t surprised a lot many people.

Moeen Ali will be a part of Chennai Super Kings side that will play its first IPL 2021 game against Delhi Capitals on 10 April, 2021 in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.