Former England cricketer Moeen Ali says former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra, and not MS Dhoni, is the best "cricketing brain" he has worked with. Ali played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) from 2018 to 2020, around the same time when Nehra was the bowling coach of the franchise.
"For me, a cricketing brain is somebody who knows almost every situation of the game. Who's got an answer, or a theory, for every situation. Like, they just talk about all aspects. 'Why he's not that good, why he is good, what should happen in this situation, what could happen'," Ali said on the Beard Before Wicket podcast on 2 August.
"But he's got something. And behind that something, there's either data or evidence. Like, 'It's happened before, and this happened, and this is why this can happen.' So the name I am going to give is Ashish Nehra.”
‘He’s somebody who knows what he's talking about': Moreno Ali on Ashish Nehra
Ali said, “He is the coach of Gujarat (Titans). I had him at RCB for a couple of years. When it comes to cricketing brain, he's somebody who knows what he's talking about. Knows how to get a team environment going, knows how to deal with people, players, and coaches. Amazing, amazing cricket brain.”
Ali featured in 19 IPL matches for the franchise before moving to Chennai Super Kings, where he played a key role in their 2021 title-winning campaign. The 39-year-old announced his retirement from international cricket in 2024. This brought the curtain down on an international career in which he represented England in 68 Tests, 138 One-Day Internationals and 92 T20 Internationals.
Apart from RCB, Ali has played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He, in fact, played under Dhoni at CSK. He played in the IPL 2025 season for KKR but took just six wickets in as many matches. He decided not to play in the IPL in 2026 and instead opted to play for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Dhoni is known as Captain Cool. He led Chennai Super Kings to five IPL titles. He guided India to the T20 World Cup title in 2007, the ODI World Cup title in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.
Nehra, on the other hand, played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 27 T20Is for India, picking up 44, 157 and 34 wickets across the three formats, respectively.
The former Delhi speedster was later appointed as the head coach of the Gujarat Titans (GT) ahead of their debut IPL season in 2022. He guided the franchise to the IPL title in their debut season, and followed it up with a runners-up finish in 2023. Nehra continues to serve as the Titans' head coach.
