POTW : Masquerade

[MenInG]

Wow a Haseebesque debut on PP

An excellent analysis of the ongoing India-England series and deserving winner of this week's POTW

Congratulations [MENTION=140879]Masquerade[/MENTION]

England's performance in Rajkot was easily one of, if not the, best showings by an overseas team in India for a long time now. In fact the last team to show such fight was the English again back in 2012, so this really should not have come as such a surprise. However, I don't think England can afford to relax just yet as they have not really answered any of the burning questions that they came to India with.

For one, this will be the easiest pitch they get to bat on in this entire tour. Of course, they passed this test with aplomb but ultimately it was not nearly as challenging as what the South Africans or Kiwis had to contend with. This is also the same team that crumbled multiple times against Bangladesh on more vicious pitches and it's wrong to say they've answered those queries. So, I think that's one question mark still hanging over their heads. If I was to pick out one other flaws - of the very few flaws in quite an impressive performance - it was that England performed at 100%. Cook, Root, Ali, Stokes and even the debutant Hameed had great matches with the bat. Adil Rashid, who has a reputation of being inconsistent, also picked up 8 wickets. And ultimately, even when performing at their peak - or close to it - they could not deliver the win. I know they have Anderson as a potential inclusion but its hard to see him dominating too much in the dry, abrasive conditions to come. Here the question is clear; can England continue to perform at their absolute best? Is their absolute best even enough to win?

On the flipside, India had a few more passengers. Ajinkya Rahane made only 14 runs and I think we can only agree he underperformed here and is due for some runs. Ravi Ashwin was also fairly listless with the ball and this might only be a minor blip in form. Amit Mishra was another who failed to impress but India have a host of players to replace him with. But probably the biggest change India can make is the inclusion of KL Rahul instead of Gambhir.

All in all though, its clear India are in for a huge fight because England are not going to be pushovers. Ultimately, this test just served as a method for both teams to scout the opposition and plan ahead. If I were to pick a winner, I would say India will triumph 2-0 but will not be surprised if England pull something out of the hat here, which - make no mistake - they will have to

 

[Abdullah719]

Good post, congrats. Solid debut.

 

[Rayyman]

What a debut! Congrats.

 

[Muhammad10]

Top post [MENTION=140879]Masquerade[/MENTION], congratulations on a fantastic debut! meed

 

[The_KING]

Congrats [MENTION=140879]Masquerade[/MENTION]

 

[msb314]

Congrats great post!

Hope to see more of your posts in the future!

On a side note - I remember another poster who won POTW on his first post.

It was right after the defeat to WI in the 2015 WC - I remember he won it for a drawing/portrait for a sunken Misbah watching from the bench.

Does anyone remember who that poster was?
[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION] [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] [MENTION=133760]Abdullah719[/MENTION]

 

[Abdullah719]

Congrats great post!

Hope to see more of your posts in the future!

On a side note - I remember another poster who won POTW on his first post.

It was right after the defeat to WI in the 2015 WC - I remember he won it for a drawing/portrait for a sunken Misbah watching from the bench.

Does anyone remember who that poster was?
[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION] [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] [MENTION=133760]Abdullah719[/MENTION]

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?219075

Always good when a new poster starts off with a post as above, sets the tone and encourages others.

 

[msb314]

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?219075

Always good when a new poster starts off with a post as above, sets the tone and encourages others.

Ah yes!

Thanks a lot for finding it!

 

[jeetu]

Congrats for POTW , good analysis

 

[Masquerade]

Cheers guys! Thanks for making me feel welcome

 

[Slog]

Cheers guys! Thanks for making me feel welcome

lmao so your first post was POTW

and second was a thank you message for winning it

this is some record

 

[street cricketer]

lmao so your first post was POTW

and second was a thank you message for winning it

this is some record

That's like a player hitting century on his debut.

Congratulations [MENTION=140879]Masquerade[/MENTION]