Moeen Ali retires from international cricket after being ignored for white-ball series vs Australia

Moeen Ali announced his retirement from international cricket at 37 on Sunday, September 8. He played 68 Test matches, 138 ODIs, and 92 T20I matches for England, scoring 6678 runs and picking 366 wickets across formats.

The veteran all-rounder's last appearance for England came in the June semi-final of T20 World Cup 2024 against India in West Indies. Moeen Ali explained that he took the big decision to retire from international cricket after being ignored for the upcoming T20I and ODI series against Australia.

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He said that he realised that it was time for the future crop of England players to take over, adding that the management and ECB officials also made him aware of the situation.

"I'm 37 years old and didn't get picked for this month's Australia series. I've played a lot of cricket for England. It's time for the next generation, which was also explained to me. It felt the time was right. I've done my part," Moeen Ali, who scored five Test hundreds and picked five-fers in the format, said in a Daily Mail interview.

"I'm very proud. When you first play for England, you don't know how many games you're going to play. So to play nearly 300…My first few years were all about Test cricket. Once Morgs [Eoin Morgan] took over the one-day stuff, that was more fun. But Test cricket was the proper cricket," Moeen, who also smashed three ODI tons, added.

Notably, Moeen Ali once retired from Test cricket in 2021 before making a comeback to the format once again upon request from Ben Stokes ahead of the Ashes 2023. He scored 63 runs and picked three wickets across the two innings of his last Test - the fifth Ashes 2023 Test at The Oval in London.

He asserted that he was good enough to continued playing for England, but decides to move on as he realises that the team needs the next generation of players to takeover.

"Even now, I've tried to be realistic. I could hold on and try to play for England again, but I know in reality I won't. Even retiring, I don't feel it's because I'm not good enough -- I still feel I can play. But I get how things are, and the team needs to evolve into another cycle. It's about being real to myself.

"People forget the impact you make in games. It might only have been 20 or 30, but it was a crucial 20 or 30. For me, it was about making an impact. I know what I brought to the side, on and off the field. As long as I felt people enjoyed watching me play, whether or not I did well, I was happy with that," the Birmingham-born cricketer said.

Moeen Ali will continue playing franchise cricket, coaching job on mind

Further, the southpaw confirmed that he would continue to play franchise cricket for a while. He has been a key figure in various T20 leagues including the IPL in which he represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the last edition. Moeen Ali also revealed that he carries the ambition to become one of the best cricket coaches in future.

"A bit of franchise cricket, because I still love playing. But coaching is something I want to do -- I want to be one of the best. I can learn a lot from Baz [Brendon McCullum]. I hope people remember me as a free spirit. I played some nice shots and some bad shots, but hopefully people enjoyed watching me," he said.