Breakaway

The war between the two organizations of Formula One, i.e. FOTA and FIA has finally come to a standstill and has eventually split the F1 teams into a separate entity. The FIA initially was reluctant to meet the demands of the F1 teams and stated that no team should be allowed to dictate the rules and regulations of the sport. The governing body refused to meet any demands of the car manufacturers which led to the breakaway of Ferrari, BMW, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, Brawn GP and the two Red Bull teams from Formula One. FOTA said that "these teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners." Truly, F1 cannot exist without the big guns like McLaren and Ferrari, and a breakaway series will definitely hold more prestige and freedom to the motorsport industry.

It's all about Team Spirit

T-20 is certainly unpredictable but no one can remove the equation of team spirit in the cricket game. Most experts and bookies expected India to reach at least the semi – finals of the T-20 world cup tournament but that didn’t happen. It was certainly not fatigue and the absence of key players like Shewag and Sachin, but due to the fact that the team was unable to gel together as a unit. When Jadeja was struggling to get India through, did we ever see Yuvraj encourage the amateur? His facial expressions displayed nervousness and the lack of encouragement from the senior players did not help him either. On the other hand, the Pakistan team, which was written off from the series as a failure, has now reached the finals of the world cup. Most experts rated them as pathetic performers before and during the commencement of the tournament. But they performed commendably to squash the hopes of South Africa to win their first ever world cup tournament.

Farewell India

Tonight, we saw the departure of the defending T20 champions from the world cup. A very close match indeed, but India never played the match to their full potential. India looked jittery and nervous when they won the toss and opted to field. Many simple misfields showed that the team was not at all confident to defend their crown. However, Indian bowlers did do a decent job in restricting England to 153. The Indian batsmen got off to a poor start but the downfall of India came when the decision to send Jadeja came about. England was already exploiting India’s weakness to play short pitch bowling. In a time where the team was struggling, India should have sent their senior players like Yuvraj to handle the situation.
The next game of India is versus South Africa, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their pace attack further exploits the weakness of the Indians to play short pitch bowling. Back to the practice pitch boys!!!!

Do or Die for India

After losing the 1st match of the Super Eight’s to the West Indies, India has put itself in a rather difficult position to qualify for the semi-finals. Now, India has no option but to win all the matches of the Super Eights until it qualifies for the next round. The interesting factor is that India can still be out qualified by West Indies and South Africa, despite winning both the matches. England seems to be out of touch and frankly, I don't see them making into the next round. South Africa, as of today has already made it to the next round. If India wins both its matches and West Indies defeats England, then the match will be decided on the run rate factor. Thus, expect both India and West Indies to try and milk the English team to increase their run rate as it could be deciding factor between the fates of the two teams. However, the Indian team will be looking for a lucky break if England can manage to defeat West Indies on home soil.

India tames Ireland

Yesterday, India set a comprehensive win over Ireland in the T20 World Cup. This preliminary match to the Super Eights would not have affected the results of either team. However, India refused to show any complacency or experimentation in this warm up match to the final eights. As M.S Dhoni cleverly pointed out, that losing the momentum of winning matches in the T20 would spell doomsday for the Indian team. No doubt, at this stage and hence forth, Dhoni will be reluctant to test the combination of his side and will only replace team members, if they face any injuries. We prominently saw India dominate Ireland from the 1st over till the last ball of the match and we hope that India, under the leadership of Dhoni, continues to show the same dedication and planning for the rest of the T20 World Cup matches.

Spin Attack

Spin attack has found new life in the smaller 20 - 20 version of the cricket game. In the first season of the IPL, most spinners, except the few greats, had to face the wrath of the batsmen. The flat wickets in India did not help the spinners either and most captains were reluctant to use spin in the 20 over game. However, the IPL 2.0 did bring the spinners back to life with some support from the green wickets. The trend has carried on in the T20 World cup and most captains are exploiting their main and part – time spinners to reduce the number of runs scored by the opposition. In T20 cricket, batsmen do not get the opportunity to settle down and get their eye in to the ball. At such a stage, spin attack makes the life of batsmen more difficult, as they have to generate the shots to make any runs off the spinners. Thus, expect more captains to experiment with spin on the English wickets for the rest of the World Cup matches.

Doomsday

Friday, the 12th, will call for some serious changes to the presence of car manufacturers in the Formula 1 motorsport. The FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) has presented the FIA with a conditional entry to the 2010 season. The entry states that the budget cap should be postponed or increased for the forthcoming season. Meanwhile, several small teams, based upon the budget cap rule for the 2010 season, have proposed their entries into Formula One. The major car manufacturers, mainly Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and BMW have threatened to quit Formula 1 and start their own series, if the budget cap rule is not scrapped for the next season. Now, the FIA has to decide, whether to lose the car giants or disappoint the small teams by delaying their entry into F1. Friday will be the day when Max Mosley, president of the FIA, will decide the future of F1. On one hand he has the opportunity to promote small teams, but on the other hand, he can face a breakaway of F1 from the current car manufacturers and expect direct competition from them for the 2010 or 2011 season.

Performance gap reduced

Complacency in any form of sports will bring about the downfall of an individual or a team. In cricket, this statement becomes more and more valid as the length of the game becomes shorter and shorter. In 20 – 20 cricket, a single over can turn the game drastically. The warm up match between India and Pakistan was a prime example of how the game shifted favors in every over. But the real shocker was the defeat England suffered in the hands of Netherlands. After the 1st 10 overs of batting, England batsmen showed the complacency of making runs without having any sense of urgency. Their grave mistake of letting the Netherlands batsmen run away with the game has now threatened their survival in the tournament. In the small format of the game, it is indeed very difficult to dominate even the weakest opposition and the last feature any team show display on the field is complacency.

Aerodynamics

One of the most prominent features of a Formula 1 car is its aerodynamics. When we watch motorsports, we fail to realize that the main obstruction of a F1 car is not the competitor, but the invisible force known as the air. The efficiency of aerodynamics is measured as the ability of the car to move quickly through the medium of air. The 2009 rules of F1 have placed great emphasis on the teams to dedicate their success to the aerodynamics of their cars. This feature is exemplified through the vast difference of performance between the Brawn GP team and the McLaren Mercedes. Both the teams are equipped with the same tires and more importantly, the same Mercedes engine. Yet, one is dominating the field, while the other is struggling at the back end of the grid. The problem with Mercedes is chiefly down to the car’s inability to move through the force of air in an efficient manner. Most teams spend millions of dollars doing wind tunnel testing to improve the aerodynamics of the car. But if the car’s aerodynamics is weak, then no matter how good the driver is, success is impossible to achieve.