With Sunil Narine - the highest wicket-taker of all time for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and last IPL season's MVP - missing owing to illness, captain Ajinkya Rahane needed another spinner to step up. He turned to Moeen Ali, and he delivered with 2 for 23 on his franchise debut.
With Varun Chakravarthy also producing 2 for 17 to stifle Rajasthan Royals (RR) to 151 for 9 in Guwahati, Moeen played the role of the second spinner to perfection, a role he said he has preferred in the past too. Together, they set up KKR's first win of the IPL 2025 season.
"I came on before him [Varun], so my job was to try to bowl as tight as I can. And then maybe he can build a bit of pressure as well or get the wicket," Moeen said in the post-match press conference. "I'm used to bowling with somebody who is better than me and has more mystery than me, so my job there is to bowl as tight as I can and hopefully that builds pressure for that person to then get wickets.
"Retired from international cricket, yeah, but I still play a lot of leagues, and I still try to stay on top of my game because I still want to play for as long as I can and do well."
Moeen dismissed the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal as well, but it was his wicket of Nitish Rana that grabbed the most attention. It was a classical offspinner's dismissal from around the wicket, turning away from the left-hand batter from a good length before pegging middle stump back. He credited his batting nous for his bowling success.
"That ball was a nice ball," Moeen said. "I knew there was a bit of pressure being built and I just tried to bowl a good area, spin the ball as hard as I can. I don't have the skill as other bowlers, but my job is to contain as much as I can. I think my skill is that I think like a batter. So a lot of the time I'm trying to think what they think and it works in my favour."
Moments after the game, Moeen - who bowled only 48 balls in IPL 2024 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - also spoke to the broadcasters and said he found out about his KKR debut in the morning.
"I've been practising well, and I just try to be ready all the time," Moeen said. "I got told this morning that Sunny [Narine] was not well and to just be ready whenever. Obviously, hard to replace Sunny but I felt like I did a nice job of it.
"You're just waiting for your turn and when the chance comes, you try and take it as much as you can. But on some wickets like today, I probably used my experience as much as I could to actually keep it simple, keep the stumps in play, keep the line to the left-handers in particular quite straight and just try and spin the ball."
Moeen also agreed that the spin-friendly pitch was a pleasant change from high-scoring ones, with the first five games of the season breaking all run-rate and six-hitting records.
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"When the wicket is like this, you're not going to get 300," he said. "You probably won't even get 200, and it's great to have these games in between those big games.
"Those big-scoring games are great to watch, but it's a little bit of a false sense of security where it's a bit too much. But the game is developing. Cricket is getting quicker and faster. And people are just fearless at the moment."
Despite not being a first-choice pick so far, Moeen said he wasn't disappointed since good sides are tough to break into. Eighteen years since he first played a T20, Moeen still wants to improve.
"It's just learning and trying to get better even at 37 years old," he said. "It's a very, very balanced side. The overseas players are amazing, with Sunny and Russ [Andre Russell]. Quinny [Qunton de Kock] is always guaranteed to play and it's very difficult to get in, but it is how it is in good teams."