The New Kid on the block

F1 2007 season, the race to the championship has been the most exciting one so far in last 5 years or so. Sunday June 17, 2007, saw the rookie Lewis Hamilton create another world record after he won the US F1 GP. His second consecutive win after last week’s Canadian GP is a record in itself as no other rookie in his debut season has ever posted two consecutive race wins ever. Nor has any rookie ever boasted of 7 consecutive podium finish in the debut season.

At Bahrain, he became the first F1 driver to finish in the top three in his first three F1 championship races, a record he has subsequently extended to his first seven races. Finishing second in Spain made Hamilton the youngest driver ever to lead the drivers' championship. By winning a Grand Prix at his sixth attempt in Canada, Hamilton became the fourth youngest Grand Prix winner, and the first driver since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2001 to win a race in his first season. His record has been so stunning that his worst race has been his first one where he finished third!! Quite an achievment for any seasoned driver, forget of a rookie.

I followed both the races (canada and US) very closly and what I could observe that here was a driver who was much different from the other drivers of the champion league i.e the The Shumachers and the Alonsos. Unlike Alonso he is not that aggressive in his driving style but has a very cool head and showed a lot of maturity, specially in the Q3 of the US GP qualifiers. Alonso had been having the best times before that but Hamilton new when he had to get the best out of himself. The kind of modest man he is, Lewis always has attributed his success to his team.

Meanwhile the rift between Alonso and Hamilton is pretty clear where the former has accused Mclaren of supporting the Brit as it’s a British constructor. It was very clear before the post qualifying interview when Alonso rushed in leaving his teammate behind. All I can say that good job Lewis by proving Alonso wrong and grow up Mr. Alonso! Be a man!!

Meanwhile the Canadian GP saw one of the most horrifying crashes where BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica met with a bone chilling accident. Thanks to the safety measures taken now days by the FIA, Kubica escaped almost unscratched. It reminded F1 experts of the fatal crash of the then world champion Gilles Villneuve on May 8 1982 where he lost his life in the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying. Incidentally the Canadian Grand prix race circuit where Kubica met with this accident is named after this legendary driver!!

A billion aint coming for blue

I came back to the hostel around 10:30pm. I had a glance at the TV. The score read target 244. India 71 for 4. Normally you don’t find seating space in the TV room during cricket matches and big events like the soccer World cup. Things have been different off late. There were a few (about 6-10 people) glued to the chair in a 30 seating capacity room which would have otherwise been overflowing. It didn’t seem as if they were anticipating an Indian win. Indian cricket aficionados have stopped hoping for miracles ages back. It was as if finding some source of entertainment from the carnage that was going to follow. You can’t blame them. After all, that’s how we have been trained to believe in as belief comes from truth.

Port Elizabeth debacle has been a continuation of a series of defeats this year, right since the series defeat in West Indies earlier this year. Where have the men in blue lacking?? According to me the answer is simple. We have stopped believing in us. We have stopped believing we can win. The difference between teams like Australia or South Africa is that, they never give up at any stage of the match unlike India. If we compare this match, SA were more or less in the same position during their innings. There has been a complete change in the attitude of the Men in Blue. It doesn’t seem like fatigue as the other sides are playing more cricket then them. It cannot be lack of match practice as the composition of the side has been more or less the same. So the question arises that should it be attributed to plans and strategies gone haywire or maybe lack of accountability for the team to the masses??

If you see the composition of the current side, India does not have a regular opener. We have Sachin and Jaffer opening for India. The old pair of Sachin and Sehwag was not possible in this case as the later had to play at number 3 in the absence of the skipper. Call me a Bongo fanatic or whatever, India is lacking the experience of Saurav Ganguly. Moreover what baffles me is that, there are players of the likes of Dinesh Karthick who are playing ahead of him. Phenomenon like this can be associated only with India or Zimbabwe, as the later is being eaten by the racial unrest going on in the country. It’s a clear indication that Greg Chappell dominates the selection process. More over if you consider Chappell as a great strategist, you fail to understand that why Dhoni bats down the order when half the side has bundled up. He is a good hitter of the ball and I believe should be idle at number 3. Well whatever it might be, there is a great need of a revamp in the side.

I am happy to see that Ganguly and Laxman are back in the test Squad as the young blood theory seems to be direction less. Also what has been impetus is that Gautam Gambhir is back in the side. I have always considered him a great talent and potential. What is interesting is that Laxman has been declared the vice-captain of the side. A normal judgment could be that Viru is not in the best form so the move could be to take away some pressure of him. However, is the move directed towards taking him out of the management intentionally as Dada is back in the side. If we look into the history, Viru and Dada have been the best of pal but Dada and Laxman have not. These are just my judgment, however, I don’t intend to stretch them too much as like elastic, it might snap back at you. Whatever happens. Whoever plays. It would be heartening to see the Men in Blue back in the huddle. Go India!!

Holla!!!

I could not help. It had to start someday. i have always seen my friends post Blog...So here I am, following the trend or should I say my heart. I dont promise that my stuff would be highly enchanting or any thing. Neither do i propose to be regular.

I thank my childhood friend Arijit Ganguly for being my inspiration in creating this web page. Hope to come back here soon.

cheers!!