Harbhajan Singh raised questions on Moeen Ali’s spinning finger spray

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh expressed his disappointment at the turn of events involving England all-rounder Moeen Ali during the just-concluded first Ashes Test against Australia. Moeen, who returned to Test cricket, was the specialist spinner for England at Edgbaston.

Moeen displayed his prowess in the first innings by taking the wicket of Australian batsman Cameron Green off an exceptional ball. However, he also attracted attention for breaching Article 2.20 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the match. While fielding at the boundary line, Moeen was seen applying a drying agent on his hand, which sparked a debate on social media.

Harbhajan Singh came out in support of Moeen Ali, saying he could not understand the fuss around Moeen’s use of spray on his knuckle fingers to ease the pain. He said if a batsman gets a blister under his gloves and uses spray, it often goes unnoticed. Harbhajan insisted that the same logic should be applied in Moeen’s case as well, the only issue was that he should have informed the umpires.

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So much chatter around Moeen Ali using spray on spinning fingers to numb the pain doesn’t make sense. The only issue is that he should have informed the umpires but if the blister gets under the batsman’s gloves and gets sprayed. Will anyone even notice? Same logic, think about it?_ – Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) June 20, 2023

Harbhajan’s reaction came after Moeen admitted his guilt and accepted the punishment proposed by Andy Pycroft. The charge against Moeen was leveled by on-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Marais Erasmus, third umpire Chris Gaffaney and fourth umpire Mike Burns.

Moin accepted the charges

As a result of the Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct, Moeen received one demerit point on his disciplinary record and was fined 25 percent of his match fee from the first Ashes Test against Australia.

Moeen looked a bit tired as Test restrained him and had to pull out of the attack due to a blister on his knuckle finger. Joe Root took over as the spinner on a track that gave a lot of turn to the spinners.

Captain Pat Cummins’ brilliant innings of 44 off 73 balls helped Australia emerge victorious on the final day of the match. With this win, Australia has taken a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series.

Harbhajan termed it as a great Test match and praised Australia for never giving up.