The India-Pakistan conflict got too close for comfort for the former England cricketer Moeen Ali, whose parents were in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which was a warzone after Indian forces attacked nine terror camps on the morning of Wednesday, May 7, in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attacks on April 22. Moeen, who was in India playing the IPL for the Kolkata Knight Riders, revealed that his priority was to get his parents out of the conflict zone while putting the safety of each of his family members ahead of anything else.
"My parents were actually in Kashmir at the time in Pakistan, only about an hour away from where the strikes happened, probably. Maybe a bit longer. So it was a bit crazy, and then they managed to get the only flights out actually on that day. I was glad they got out, but it was crazy," Moeen Ali said on the Beard Before Wicket podcast while mentioning that he had gotten sick at the time and had left India even before the IPL was cancelled.
"It was mad, obviously, there were those attacks in Kashmir before everything really kicked off. Then within no time, things just rapidly escalated, and all of a sudden we're in the middle. It felt like we're in the middle of a war, but obviously we didn't hear anything (like missiles striking). Suddenly, you're just scrambling to get out of the country and just to make sure obviously your family's fine. People are worried about you back home and just to make sure they're at ease as well," Moeen, who was in India with his wife and child, added.
"So the night before they cancelled it, I'm one of those who doesn't care what we're playing in the IPL or the PSL. What's important is to be safe. Or try and be as safe as possible. I mean, you're never safe anywhere in the world. But try to obviously protect your family and kids as much as you can. All that kind of stuff and just make sure everything's good. I was just out (of the tournament) before they even cancelled it to be honest.
"To be honest, I wasn't well, so I was really sick at the same time. So I reckon I had some viral thing or whatever it was. I was really, really bad, and I was just out. I was just making sure, like I was fit enough to just get out of there," Moeen further added.
Moeen was one of the two players for Kolkata Knight Riders, who didn't return for the IPL 2025 resumption, apart from Rovman Powell. Moeen played the May 7 game for KKR against the Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens before the situation escalated. The Dharamsala game on May 8 between the Punjab Kings and the Delhi Capitals was abandoned midway due to air-raid sirens in nearby areas, along with the blackout along the Northern and North-Western borders. The IPL was eventually suspended for a week on Friday, May 9, before it got back on track on May 17.