He's a very good boy: Moeen Ali’s dad, Munir Ali

It is our experiences that shape us. We might be born with a predisposed set of inherited genes, but the environment we grow up in during the formative years shapes much of how we develop into as human beings. Case in point, Moeen Ali. 

For Moeen Ali, it was his dad, the man who went through plenty of sacrifices to ensure that his sons did not feel the brunt of class divide or their ethnic background being a hindrance. As Moeen himself admits, he was, as most teenagers are, unfocused. His lack of general direction in life could have easily swayed him towards dangerous territory. "Cricket saved me," Moeen says. "Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without it. My dad was always very good. He instilled discipline. But when I look around at what so many of my friends ended up doing... There weren't a huge amount of opportunities. A lot of them slipped into gangs and drugs. I would like to think I'd have avoided that, but I don't know. It would have been very easy to fall into that world. I've been very lucky.” It probably wouldn’t be wrong to say that Moeen’s dad, Munir Ali was his savior. 

Now, as a successful cricketer for England, Moeen has every bit of that character, the humility, the groundedness, and a sense of responsibility towards his community instilled in him, and the shining lights of international cricket have failed spectacularly in eroding those values from him. Moeen says of his parents, "I'll never be able to do enough to repay them.” 

Moeen bought his dad a car after his just after he finished his first summer of top-flight cricket. Munir Ali, the silent man, the rock behind all of Moeen’s success, in a classic selfless reflection of his personality says, "They're good boys. Their mother must have done a good job.”

Way before Moeen had even had a taste of international cricket, there were signs of the person Moeen would grow into. During the days when the Ali household was struggling to make ends meet, Munir Ali would have to resort to play Sherlock Holmes around the house and gather enough coins to fund a drive and a sandwich meal for Moeen’s trial game in Somerset. At the break of the innings, Moeen, typical of the person he is, would walk up to his dad and share the sandwich with him. "I'd have been very proud of him if he hadn't made it as a cricketer," Munir proudly says. "He's a very good boy."

Cricketers’ life only grabs the spotlight for a brief while of their life. At best, all but 20 years of their lives will have to be away from the cricket field and all the limelight it attracts. That is when their character as human beings shall be put to test. Moeen, thanks to his upbringing, his parents, his salvation through cricket and religion, seems well-equipped to handle the Sisyphean task of everyday life. 

[ESPNCricinfo inputs]