Thank you Felipe..!!

Interlagos, the final race of the 2008 Formula 1 calendar saw one of the most dramatic finishes in recent times. Seriously, all die hard fans of Ferrari (me no exception...!) had a bit of tear to tickle during the closing stages. Thanks greatly to one man, Timo Glock of Toyota.

The weekend started perfectly for Ferrari and Felipe, was fastest in both the practice sessions and made a stunning perfect lap to clinch pole for the grand finale. Lewis, on the other hand was fourth fastest with Trulli and Kimi in between. Felipe had to finish at the top to win the title and Lewis had to finish anywhere between first and fifth place. The race started with a bit of drama when the formation lap was delayed by 10minutes due to sudden downpour. This resulted in drama as to which tyres the teams will choose, but thankfully the rain stopped. The first corner, as usual had some action with Nelson and David (who was on his last season.), he eventually had to end his final race without even completing a lap.

The race was just perfect for Felipe; he got the pole and lead the race from start to finish. Because of the rain, Trulli had to lose places which eventually got Fernando in second, Renault doing a sheer brilliance in the second half of the calendar. It was just perfect, till lap 67 when the rain gods showed up again and the pits became active, Kimi went into the pits ahead of his teammate a gamble which surely favored Felipe, and he came in subsequently in his next lap and managed to come out still leading the race.

Now, the action begins, the order is Felipe, followed by Fernando, Kimi, Glock, Lewis and Vittel. So technically, if in this order they finish, Lewis will win the championship by 1 point. But the drama started in the penultimate lap, Vittel overtook Lewis, thanks to Kubica the black marker and the crowd erupted because if Vittel finished ahead of Lewis then both Massa and Lewis will be tied at 97 points but since Felipe had won more races this year he will win the championship. And it seemed this will how it will finish, but this is where Formula 1 becomes highly unpredictable, the Toyota driver Timo Glock ran out of fuel and who was running fourth started cruising and by mere 100m to the finish line Lewis overtook him to take him to fifth and thereby winning the championship. The race couldn’t have got more spectacular than this.

Felipe was is all tears, but the McLaren camp was overjoyed, after Mika Hakkinen this is their first Formula 1 drivers championship and thereby Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest racer in the Formula 1 history to win the drivers title. The constructor title went to Ferrari, no gifts for guessing that.

Come 2009, Albert Park will be roaring and the rivalry between Felipe and Lewis will reach to higher levels. So, another 4 months before the rivalry begins once again.

On the whole a dramatic season with an even dramatic finish. Congrats to Lewis, sorry for Felipe.

IPL vs. EPL

EPL or English Premiere League is arguably one of the most watched league, much more than a world cup match. The reason it is star studded, when Manchester United play either Chelsea or Arsenal the viewership is more compared to a match between England and Spain. The reason for bringing Spain in the picture would be La Liga league which is equally matched to the EPL with the likes of Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and so on…. and where huge money is involved.

After both EPL & La Liga gained much popularity neither of them have won a world cup. The last time England one a World Cup was way back in 1966 and Spain has never won the FIFA cup. But all the hyped players play in either one of the leagues.

So where is IPL – the Indian version of the famous English County heading to? All these years it has been soccer where players are purchased (underline) by the league teams and now this has gripped the BCCI – without doubt the richest board, much richer than ICC. Ever heard, "Mahendra Singh Dhoni was purchased in the auction by Chennai Kings", so is the Football fever catching cricket..??

One thing which I seriously cannot understand, how can a human be auctioned..??
So is this their value…?? Sounds weird… One of the main reason for forming IPL – actually I don't know the exact reason but it revolves around money.

Come April when the IPL kicks off….lot of fanfare is expected in this cricket frenzy country when all the top international players battle it out.

Australia (Perth vs Melbourne)

Cricket, Tennis, Rugby.... name it and Aussies are in it. First let’s talk about cricket and the recently concluded 3rd test between India and Australia. Good thing India won the test in 4days and thereby has a chance of drawing the series which Aus. lead 2 - 1 thanks largely to the Sydney test. I would like to appreciate the Indian team for the success, truly a great victory. Not many teams have been able to win in Perth but India managed it and it was not by any means luck; they fought the game fairly and dominated each session on all 4 days. On the whole a great victory for the Indians.

On Saturday I also watched one of the greatest tennis matches in recent times. It’s the Australian open 3rd round between world no.1 Roger Fedrer and world no.49 Janko Tipsarevic. From the start Fedrer was not in good shape both his volleys and movement on the baseline, in simple terms he struggled. A few days back Marat Safin after his loss, told the press that Fedrer was in good shape and in sure contention for his 13th Grand Slam title and I started to wonder whether this match is going to be the greatest upset of the first grand slam of the year. Tipsarevic aged 23 put up a real great fight and Fedrer was clueless of his serve and made the world no.1 struggle for most of the points. Tipsarevic had a better percentage record when compared to Fedrer in 5 setters but the world no.1 proved why he is the best by winning crucial points at the right moment to clinch a place in the 4th round. Truly, this has to be one of the greatest matches of Australian Open 2008. In the post press conference Fedrer acknowledged Tipsarevic by saying it would be nice if some matches ended in draw but in tennis you don’t have it.

Take a bow Janko Tipsarevic.

Down Under Blues...

When Anil Kumble took over as the new captain of the Indian team he would have never expected these kind of problems would crop up but this is not something new for the Indian team. The controversy over the umpiring decision in the recently concluded 2nd test between India and Australia has raised many eye brows.

Steve Bucknor and Indian team are very good pals and especially Sachin Tendulkar, who has been declared out in the most bizarre ways. If my memory is right, McGrath was bowling to Tendulkar who tried ducking a short ball and fortunately or unfortunately the ball did not bounce and hit him on the helmet, as always the whole of the Australian team went up and Mr.Bucknor declared him out and it went into the record books as LBW (Leg Before Wicket). Can you imagine, the ball hitting the helmet and you are declared LBW. And Mr.Bucknor is regarded as the ICC panel's elite umpire, I wonder how they came to this sort of conclusion.

During Australia's previous tour of India, former captain Rahul Dravid hit a ball and it was caught brilliantly by Michael Slater but after the ball bounced off the ground and he was declared not out. No one could imagine what happened next, Slater came and bombarded Dravid saying you should leave if you are out and not wait for umpire decision and it’s the same Australians who talk this nonsense when Symonds should have walked out. In fact he gave a statement after the match saying he gives credit to the bowler. What sort of sportsmanship is this?

Sourav Ganguly caught by Clarke when replays clearly show that the ball bounced of the ground, umpiring at its best. Dravid caught behind when the ball clearly flips the pad. Mark Benson (England) another officiating umpire can hear all this but not when Ponting nicked one to Dhoni and neither did he hear the Symonds issue.

The true spirit of the game, where the hell has it gone maybe when you play Australia in Australia you should leave all the spirits and all the sportsmanship. There were previous instances of ball tampering, does any of you know 'Cricket Australia' is known for changing balls in the course of the game... hey... come on that's not ball tampering... they are just changing balls... but aren’t the umpires only supposed to do this.

This is Australia at its best, playing and winning at regular intervals. If they think they cannot play against a particular bowler then don’t worry they will accuse the bowler for chucking, racial discrimination (we all know what sort of person is Andrew Symonds..!!)

The ICC is always mum when some issue crops up with the Indian team, may be all the big heads can answer this. And the BCCI for their part, "we have made a strong protest with the ICC", hell with it... why can't you cancel the series and ask the team to return. This is not something new for the Indian team, every time the team tours Australia something or the other keeps cropping up. And Mr.Ponting gives a press meet saying, "Don’t question my integrity" - all I have to say is none of you people play with the right spirit of the game.

Till 1992 world cup South Africa was banned from playing International Cricket, maybe Australia too needs a treatment like this.

Till then Happy Cricketing - Cricket Australia