Sebastian Vettel: Indian first F1 Grand Prix winner

Red Bull's champion Sebastian Vettel wins inaugural Indian F1 Grand Prix held at new Buddh International Circuit, Delhi on October 30, 2011.

Spectacular motor racing action thrilled a sell-out crowd of 95,000 people at Greater Noida's Buddh International Circuit on Sunday. As Germany's Sebastian Vettel won 11th time this season for Red Bulls. Where many celebrities of India sports stars, movie stars were in the attendance.

McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished the top three in the India’s first F1 race. The action of first Indian Grand Prix was started when India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar waved the chequeed flag with a huge cheers rise from the stands after the national anthem, the first big international sporting event after the Commonwealth Games.

Sebastian Vettel led from start to finish, constructing a comfortable lead and finishing 8.4 seconds ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso a distant third at the Buddh International Circuit. Meanwhile, Red Bull's Mark Webber was fourth, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel has 11 wins this season, and victories in the final two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi and eying for a world record of 13 wins in a season by Michael Schimacher. Vettel turned in a flawless performance, leading every lap and posting the fastest lap.

The German said that it’s all in all it was a smooth race, the car was very well balanced, and he is very proud to be the first winner in India F1. However, the race witnessed yet another collision between McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Felipe Massa to intensify their rivalry.

Sachin Tendulkar along with some of his other teammates witnessed the Grand Prix said that this is big for India, as he came out of the track after the chequered flag along with wife Anjali and his children. Sachin also added that it was just wonderful and amazing to be at first ever Indian Grand Prix, it was a great race and he thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Earlier, Sachin was seen chatting with Michael Schumamcher.

Michael Schumacher wants to meet Sachin Tendulkar

Michael Schumacher, seven times World Champion is keen to meet the iconic batsmen Sachin Tendulkar for the second time. 

India is hosting its first ever Grand Prix, where the legendary Formula One driver is looking to regain his legacy. Sachin Tendulkar is a die-hard fan of motorsports is expected to wave the chequered flag at the race. The German is keen on meeting Tendulkar at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC).

The 42-year-old Schumacher will be driving for Mercedes Benz in India's inaugural Formula One race here over the weekend. The two legends last met in 2002, when Schumacher gifted Tendulkar the keys of a Ferrari for equalling Australian great Don Bradman's 29 Test centuries.

However, Schumamcaher said that he was not his expectations making his comeback in 2010. Earlier Michael associated with Ferrari for 11 years where he won five of his seven championships with them retired from racing in 2006 served as an advisor for Ferrari. He was supposed to replace Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the second half of the season in the 2009, but a neck injury hindered his plan.

Finally, Michael Schumacher finally made his comeback in 2010 when he signed a three year contract with the newly formed Mercedes Benz Team.

Chappell says Sachin was mentally fragile at one point

Former Indian coach and Australian great Greg Chappell, in his new book 'Fierce Focus' claimed that cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar was mentally fragile at a certain stage of his unremarkable career. Greg even said that the batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has occasionally been mentally fragile (week or delicate) and was overwhelmed with ‘self-doubt’ at a certain stage of his career.

The Indian great of modern era, who is closing to score his 100th ton in cricket, he is idol for many fans of cricket who worship Sachin as a god of cricket. But the Australian legend has revealed other side of Sachin saying that he has doubts on his own ability at one point of stage ahead of India's four-Test tour of Australia this summer, is the former Australia already started the mind games with the Indian great?

Greg Chappell had a controversial 3-year period with Team India as a coach from 2005-2007, where he expelled Ganguly from Captaincy and then later from team too. Chappell claims that Tendulkar’s mental state had been ‘surprisingly fragile’ in 2006. He explained that Sachin has talked with him for about two hours when he was working with the team, and Sachin spoken that he was frustrated with his form and racked with self-doubt. Greg was referring to period when was struggling with form and also having surgery for tennis elbow.

Chappell went on to say that Sachin metal state was surprising to one of the great batsmen of cricket in that kind of frame was really sad! Chappell went on to say that the impractical weight of expectation carried by Sachin Tendulkar has had to bear throughout his career could have also affected him at the time, Sachin has asked him for help.  He even insisted that Sir Don Bradman also carried the expectations of the nation like Sachin, who is carrying entire India’s expectations whenever he used to bat for India since 1989.

Virat Kohli completes 1000 runs in a Calendar Year!

The young Indian middle-order batsmen Virat Kohli has scored his 7th ODI century against England in 2nd one-day match at Delhi. Thereby, Kohli has completed 1000 runs in a Calendar year of 2011. Virat Kohli felt 5 runs short of 1000 runs in a calendar year in 2010, where he scored 995 runs.

Virat Kohli has been in great form in this year, when compared to the earlier stages of his career. Earlier Kohli used to get fifties but failed to convert them into big centuries. Now, he is a matured cricketer, playing according to the conditions and game plan of the team. As he is capitalizing the starts to convert them into match winning knocks.

The Delhi lad, Virat Kohli joins Shane Watson of Australia and Jonathan Trott from England, who scored 1000 runs in a calendar year of 2011. Sachin Tendulkar has scored 1000 runs seven times which is most by any batsmen and followed by his former teammate Sourav Ganguly 6 times and Australia’s two-time World Cup winning captain got there 6 times.

Right-handed batsmen, Virat Kholi is the 28th occasion of Indian batsmen to achieve these feet, while iconic batsmen Sachin Tendulkar achieved this feet 7 times and this is most by any batsmen in the World. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly got to 1000 runs in a calendar year 6 times. The Wall Rahul Dravid and current Indian skipper MS Dhoni did it thrice, while M Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Virender Sehwag scored 1000 runs twice. Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and now Virat Kholi completed the list of batsmen scoring 1000 runs.

Rhodes says Kohli has the ability to match Sachin

Former South African, player Jonty Rhodes feels that the India’s 2007 U-19 World Cup captain, Virat Kohli is capable for some extent to match the extraordinary feats of ‘Cricketing God’ Sachin Tendulkar.

Indian middle-order batsmen, Virat Kohli has already shown his potential with the bat and proved his one of the young promising batsmen in the Indian strong batting line-up to fill the big shoes of Sachin in future. Kohli might only be 22-years-old but he has shown the class, temper, arrogance, fashion and desire to be top performer for India, and this shows he can be a superstar, Rhodes said.

Rhodes insists that Kohli is most consistent in recent past as his conversion rate from fifties to hundreds in ODIs is amazing. Once Kohli gets to fifty, he is a difficult batsman to dismiss and more significantly he carries healthy strike rate all though the innings. If Kohli can able represent India for a longer-period of time like Sachin did, he can achieve compete the records with most ease and passion.

Jonty Rhodes said that Kohli is expected to play a big role in India's success in the future. He is a fine cricketer and a fine athlete. He is a complete all-rounder, he added.  Kohli has scored 2,496 runs in 66 ODIs at an average of 45.38 with the 7 centuries and 16 fifties. Kohli even scored 1000 runs in this calendar year of 2011.

However, Kohli does not have an impressive record in Tests, having scored only 76 runs in 5 innings, Rhodes believes that Kohli can also be successful player in the longer version of the game too. Finally, Rhodes added that Virat has shorts all-round the park and he is much matured player now, he finishes off games for India. And more importantly, he doesn’t throw his wicket and that’s what all Test cricket is all about.

Fit Sachin Tendulkar resumes training

Finally Indian cricket is getting all the champs back into the team, as little master Sachin Tendulkar has started training after a month he was ruled out of action due to a toe injury during the One-Day International series in England.

Sachin Tendulkar was practicing at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, the message was mentioned by Rphit Sharma on his Facebook saying that, this should ensure that the master piece is fit to play. But still there are some few doubts whether Sachin will be in next ODI’s against England. It has been just over a month since Tendulkar was ruled out of the one-day leg of the English tour with a toe-injury. 

The batting great Tendulkar spent a couple of hours practicing at the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Recreation Centre at Bandra. He was also seen jogging lightly on the sidelines of a C.K.Nayudu Under-22 match between Mumbai and Gujarat.

Tendulkar was found to suffer from a repetition of an inflammation to his big toe on the right foot just before the first ODI scgeduled to began in England summer. The injury also meant that Sachin’s return to home from England without scoring his 100th international ton. However, the injury also kept Scahin away to Champions League T20.

Tendulkar could fit before the home series against the West Indies in November, which would help him prepare better for the Australia tour starting on December 26. However, Tendulkar might comeback for the fourth ODI against England, which will be played in Mumbai.

Afridi: I saw Sachin's shiver against Akhtar

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi added fuel ot his ex-teammate claims that India’s great batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar was uncomfortable against his pace. Conterversial prone Afridi even added that he once witnessed the Indian batsman ‘trembling’ while facing the Rawalpindi express.

‘Boom Boom’ Shaid Afridi retired after revolting against the his own Board and has a history of making controversial remarks. He said that Tendulkar was uneasy against Akhtar, and backed his ex-pacer claims in which he made in his recently-launched autobiography 'Controversially Yours'.

The little master Sachin Tendulkar was scared of Shoaib. Afriid claims that he seen it and he was fielding at square leg, saw his legs were shivering when Shoaib bowling to him. Afridi went on to state that Tendulkar was also uncomfortable against Saeed Ajmal in tense game of India vs. Pakistan in World Cup match.

During the World Cup game, Sachin even looked scared facing Saeed Ajmal, he was given plenty of chances by them and tentative in th crease. It's not a big deal, players do feel the pressure at times and it becomes difficult. Afridi's comments in support of Akhtar come hardly within days of the launch of the autobiography, which created a anger in India with several former players and BCCI officials slamming the speedster for making tall claims in the book.

Shoaib Akhtar had a history of disciplinary violations and had also been banned during his career, had made disparaging comments about Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Earlier this year after the World Cup semi-final loss to India, Afridi had slammed the Indian media for its very negative approach and said the Pakistani media was a hundred times better.

Harbhajan ignored for first two ODIs Vs England

Harbhajan ignored for first two ODI's

Harbhajan Singh was ignored in the ODIs against England while the youngsters Sreenath Aravind and Rahul Sharma were present in the 15-man squad for the first two ODIs against England.

Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma were not picked in the Indian squad because of their injuries.

The 15-man squad for the first two games of the five-match ODI series against England will be played in Hyderabad on October 14, New Delhi on October 17 and the remaining matches will be held in Mohali (Oct 20), Mumbai (Oct 23) and Kolkata (Oct 25). The Indian players will be picked under Kris Srikanth in Chennai.

Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel are back to their places while Manoj Tiwary got place in final 15 and Ajinkya Rahane are also in the game as they impressed all with their performance in England. In the Indian team Ravindra Jadeja was only the all-rounder.

Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel were out of the game due to injuries while Praveen Kumar was present in the game. R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron also present in the game.

The selectors in Chennai decided not to pick Ashish Nehra as he himself declared fit. When coming to the spin department anyway Harbhajan was ignored R.Ashwin occupied the place as the main off-spinner and Rahul Sharma was the Leg-spinner as he proved himself brilliantly in the IPL 2011.

Indian Squad: MS Dhoni (capt and w/k), Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Sharma, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Sreenath Aravind, R Vinay Kumar, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav.

Akhtar's autobiography 'Controversially Yours' launch cancelled

Shoaib Akhtar has made controversial comments of Pakistan team and his teammates of making tampering with ball and targeted all Indian greats, is under lot of criticism for his irritating comments. Akhtar is scheduled to release his controversial book 'Controversially Yours' on Sep 25, 2011 has suddenly been cancelled without any reason being given. 

Akhtar made some remarkable comments of Indian greats

Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar is schedule to release Akhtar's autobiography 'Controversially Yours' at the Cricket Club of India (CCI). However, this event has been cancelled, without any confirmation a CCI official, without assigning any reason. 

Reportedly, the event has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The sudden cancellation of releasing the book has generated speculation that it may be making remarks about India's batting stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. 

In his autobiography, Akhtar has made many controversial claims including one where he says that the Indian batsman Tendulkar did not have the ability to finish matches in the initial stages of his career. Even he made the comments that Dravid and Sachin are not match winners. Wasim came hard at Shoaib saying that little master Sachin has no fear in facing any bowler. Protesters carried Akthar's posters on donkey-backs following the comments made on Tendulkar. 

Shoaib Akhtar admits Sachin feared him

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has admitted that Indian star batsman little mater Sachin Tendulkar has feared the paceman.

Shoaib had a very good record against the Master Blaster, dismissing him on many occasions in international cricket. The most famous dismissal Shoib will be keep saying may time would be when Tendulkar was clean bowled by the express pacer in a Test match in Kolkata. He claimed that Wasim Akram did not encourage new fast bowlers and went on to add that Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were not match winners to begin with.

The Rawalpindi express opened up that he had been working on his biography for the past one and half year. Shoaib opened up to Times of India, he stated, that he life is going on very peacefully post-retirement. He explained about his autobiography saying that he went to book a whole year and a half and have written is his experience, put as honestly for others to know. 

The 36-year-old claimed that every thing mentioned in the book was true. He added this is the truth for the world; it may be a big controversy. It saddens him to hear all kind of stories about Pakistani cricket in the world. People should know what we go through and why we are the way we are.

Akhtar last played for Pakistan in the ICC World Cup 2011. He did not feature in all the games during the ICC World Cup 2011, but proved his fitness and consistency towards the end of his career.

He was expected to play the Semi-Final match of the World Cup against their arch-rivals India, but replaced by left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz.

Sourav Ganguly: seniors should take call on retirement

Sourav Ganguly, India's most successful Test skipper says the time is not right for senior players to retire and selectors should not force them to quit the game.

Sourav says that senior players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman should decide on their retirement on their own while coming to quit the game. The day their performance drops, they will leave on the field, and there is no need to pressurize them.

The former skipper said that Indian greats like Dravid and Laxman have already phased out from ODI cricket. Sachin also plays very less ODI’s these days. Now It is good to see youngsters perform so well in the shorter format but he is really more worried about Tests. Ganguly said that the nation hasn’t seen anyone who can fill these big shoes and challenge these seniors. He also added that definitely, the time hasn't come to phase out seniors in Tests.

who will ablt fill big shoes of Sachin & Dravid?

However, India’s finest all-rounder ever Kapil Dev, felt selectors should take the decision and proposed an orderly phase out of the seniors. The 1983 World Cup winning captain said that all three seniors Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman should not play together. As one of them will be  rested and two of them will be playing so that a youngster can be tested in his place. Kapil said that this rotation method of players will help Team India to find out a youngster who can meet these greats.

Everyone knows that it is not going to be easy job to find replacements for the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. Meanwhile, Madan Lal said that there was lack work ethics in the current young players.  They have to raise their fitness levels. Players like Kohli, Pujara and Rohit will have to be given chances. Suresh had plenty of chances thrown at him and it’s now time for Yuvi to prove he belongs to Test arena.