Moeen Ali

The arrival

Moeen Ali arrived through the auction: Royal Challengers Bangalore paid ₹1.70 cr, against a base price of ₹1.50 cr.

That first season brought 5 matches, 77 runs and 3 wickets at 7.37 an over. The best was still to come.

The peak

The high point with the bat was 2021, for Chennai Super Kings: 357 runs at an average of 25.5, striking at 137.3 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 127.2, with 1 fifty, and a highest score of 58. Chennai Super Kings won the title that year.

Measured against the league around it, though, the most destructive season was 2019: 220 runs at a strike rate of 165.4, 31 runs per hundred balls quicker than the IPL as a whole that year.

With the ball, the best season was 2023, for Chennai Super Kings: 9 wickets at 7.50 runs an over, while the league's bowlers went for 8.79, with best figures of 4 for 26. Chennai Super Kings won the title that year.

Franchise by franchise

2018 to 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bought at the 2018 auction for ₹1.70 cr. 19 matches, 309 runs and 10 wickets.

2021 to 2024, Chennai Super Kings. Bought at the 2021 auction for ₹7 cr. 48 matches, 853 runs and 25 wickets; champions in 2021 and 2023.

2025, Kolkata Knight Riders. Bought at the 2025 auction for ₹2 cr. 6 matches, 5 runs and 6 wickets.

3 spells with three franchises in all. The longest was with Chennai Super Kings, 2021 to 2024.

Bat, ball and method

Across the career, Moeen Ali struck at 139.7. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 135.2, so Moeen Ali scored about 5 runs per hundred balls faster than the typical batter of the time. 67% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 95 fours and 67 sixes.

The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 39% of the balls Moeen Ali faced were dot balls, a higher share than 78% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 12.5 balls, and a four every 8.8.

With the ball, 41 wickets in 855 deliveries, at 7.22 runs an over against a league rate of 8.52 for the same seasons: 1.30 an over cheaper than the typical bowler of the time, the mark of a bowler who kept things tight. There was one four-wicket haul, and the best figures were 4 for 26.

34.5% of the balls Moeen Ali bowled were dots, a lower share than 54% of the 150 bowlers with 500 balls or more; a wicket came every 20.8 balls.

The fielding record: 22 catches and 2 run-outs.

At the auction

Moeen Ali went under the hammer three times. The highest price was ₹7 cr, paid by Chennai Super Kings in 2021, more than 3 times the base price.

Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.

The legacy

Moeen Ali made 73 IPL appearances, the last for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2025, and won 2 player-of-the-match awards.