Moeen Ali wont let 'haters' stop his England mission

Moeen Ali (©GettyImages).

Moeen Ali has vowed to keep his focus amid catcalls suggesting he should be playing for Pakistan and not for England.

Ali was booed by Indian supporters at his local ground, Edgbaston, this summer, but is determined to ignore the "haters" and insists that the heckling doesn't affect him in the slightest, although it does have an impact on his family.

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"No matter what you do, no matter how good you try to be, you are always going to get a certain amount of haters, so I just accept that and carry on. It doesn't really bother me at all," Moeen he told Sky Sports.

"I live by a phrase, 'A lion doesn't lose sleep over the opinions of sheep', so I just get on with it."

"I have had a lot of Indian friends who have apologised on behalf of other people for the boos, and it's nice, it's really nice to hear that. That sort of thing inspires me to keep going and not lose heart."

Disappointment

Birmingham-born Ali has revealed his disappointment at being criticised by local fans when he played at Edgbaston, despite living only five minutes from the ground.

"I did hear guys with Brummie [Birmingham] accents telling me to play for my own country, so it was a tough one. They were more Brummie than I was.

"But it was a shame because I only live five minutes down the road from Edgbaston, and my family were there and my friends were there and everyone was getting quite angry."

The Warwickshire all-rounder has spoken of his family's discomfort at the ridicule Moeen had received this summer, but he was surprised that no-one, especially his father, took any action.

Family

"I was surprised my dad didn't do anything, to be honest with you, because he is quite a hot-tempered person as well, so I was very surprised that he just sat there and watched the game.

"Obviously he was getting angry, but he never did anything, but I was looking in the crowd to see if there was a fight anywhere and make sure my dad wasn't one of them. I thought my dad would definitely lose it at some stage, but thankfully he didn't."

Ali has appeared in seven Tests for England, taking 22 wickets and averaging over 30 runs per innings, with a top score of 108 not out against Sri Lanka.

Moeen will be hoping he can ignore the taunting enough to focus on his career and cement his place in the England line up.