Sports

Formula One..2012

The 2012 Formula One season is the 63rd season of the Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) — the governing body of motorsport — as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The season is being contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March and will end in Brazil on 25 November. The 2012 season will see the return of the United States Grand Prix, which will be held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas.After being cancelled in 2011 due to civil protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix returned to the calendar.
The early season was tumultuous, with seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the championship; a record for the series. It was not until the European Grand Prix in June that a driver, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, would win their second race of the year, and with it, emerge as a championship contender. Alonso would maintain his hold on the championship lead for the next seven races, taking his third win in Germany and finishing on the podium in Great Britain, Italy and Singapore. However, costly first-lap retirements in Belgium and Japan would allow his rivals to catch up, and defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel — like Alonso, a two-time winner — took the lead in the sixteenth race of the season. Vettel, too, encountered difficulties throughout the season; contact with a backmarker left him to finish outside the points in Malaysia, while alternator failures at the European and Italian Grands Prix cost him valuable points and exclusion from qualifying in Abu Dhabi forced him to start from the pit lane.
With two rounds remaining in the season, Vettel leads the World Championship. Alonso, his only remaining rival in the title fight, trails Vettel by ten points. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull Racing lead Ferrari by 82 points, and drivers Vettel and Mark Webber need to score just four points between them at the United States Grand Prix to secure Red Bull's third consecutivechampionship.
In addition to seeing seven drivers win the first seven races, the 2012 season broke several records. The calendar for the season included twenty races, breaking the previous record of nineteen, which was first set in 2005. Six current or former World Drivers' Champions — Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher — started the season, breaking the record of five established in 1970.

Kevin Pietersen- The most controversial cricketer of this era

There are times when you come across people of whom you just can’t take your eyes off. Possibly, for the right or may be the wrong reasons. We remain curious to know all wrong things they do. The negatives in life can sometimes hold an appeal – like that of an unknown territory. Over the years we have loved people like Diego Maradona, we even accepted him gleefully after it was confirmed that he was taking drugs.

Tiger Woods is known for his sexoholic traits, but we are still fond of him. When Mr Shane Warne kisses Liz openly it creates news and we love to read through the lines.Remember sex-bomb Anna Kournikova? Why do we love her? Possibly, we like them more for their off-field activities.

Now again, the question about the most controversial cricketer of this generation Kevin Pietersen is,`Don’t we love him?` Surely the answer is ‘yes’.

Pietersen is widely portrayed in the media as having a self-assured personality, described by Geoffrey Boycott as being "cocky and confident".Brash, insecure and breathtaking KP is one of the most exciting batsmen ever to play for England. His lust for box-office performances make him a match-winner in all forms of the game but his ability to command attention is matched only by his ability to divide opinion.
South African born Pietersen took the world by storm when he broke into the International cricketing scene. The tour of Zimbabwe in 2003 caused several players to voice their concerns about the Robert Mugabe regime, the security issues in the country and the standard of the Zimbabwean side. Steven Harmison was the first to boycott the tour for "political and sporting reasons", and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was reported to be considering taking a moral stand himself. The England Chairman of Selectors David Graveney denied that the selectors would leave out players unhappy with touring Zimbabwe and would put their absences down to injury. Flintoff was, however, "rested" and Pietersen rushed into the squad "at the earliest opportunity". In the five match ODI series, Pietersen batted in three innings which included a score of 77 not out; he finished the series with an average of 104.00 as England won the series 4–0. This sent warning signals in the cricketing world, and he announced his arrival on the big stage.

Kevin Pietersen popularly known as ‘KP’ was upset not to be initially included in the squad to tour South Africa. With Flintoff withdrawing due to injury, Pietersen was recalled to the squad, and cemented his place in the first team with 97 off 84 balls in the warm-up match against South Africa A, in the face of a hostile crowd.

Throughout the tour, Pietersen was subjected to a barrage of abuse from the South African crowd, who regarded him somewhat like a traitor. Pietersen has always been subjected to criticism but still remains one of the biggest crowd pullers.

If we talk about English cricketers of the past, we will see they are cultured batsmen. The likes of Mike Atherton, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick, the list goes on. Hence we have always associated English Cricket with a lot of conventionalism, and there comes the most controversial cricketer of this era, and he is everything but conventional. He surely doesn’t come across as an English cricketer.

In the first ODI of the NatWest series 2006, Pietersen hit two sixes by "switch-hitting" en route to an unbeaten 110 against the Kiwis. While facing Scott Styris, colourful Pietersen turned his body around and switched hands (effectively batting as a left-hander) hitting two sixes over cover and long off. Because Pietersen not only reversed his hand position (as some batsman do while playing the reverse sweep), but changed his stance by rotating his body, these "switch-hit" shots were immediately followed by calls to outlaw them from the game. Although a similar shot was played when Pietersen reverse-swept Muttiah Muralitharan for six in Sri Lanka in 2006, he only switched hands and executed "the switch" after the ball was bowled, and not before, as in this case. This again proves the point that he just doesn’t fit in as an English cricketer. He truly is exotic to watch. Everything about him is not textbook and explicable, but we still ardently fall for this person. This Natalian also knows how to flat-bat notion’s back over the bowler’s head. He is just not a puffy cheeked teen, he is a ‘marauder’ in the real sense of the term.

The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket" and in 2012 The Guardian called him "England`s greatest modern batsman". This possibly defines KP to the core.

The game of cricket is losing out on the old day charm; hence it is even more important for cricket to produce more of such characters. Mr Kevin has always been in the news for all his wrongdoings off the field. That in turn has led to the downfall of this 32-year old. But we still believe he has a lot to offer to this game. So it’s high time his batting takes a Globetrotterish turn, as the decaying boxer winds up with chunks of his face on the canvas, all set for India, all we can say is, ‘Best of Luck’.

		T20 World Cup: Redemption of West Indies Cricket
		The journey from being world beaters in the 1970s to underdogs in every tournament played in the ensuing years has been a painful one for followers of West Indian cricket and enthusiasts around the world. The team which once terrified and intimidated players all over the world, fell into an unusually deep slumber in the last couple of decades. However, the T20 triumph in Sri-Lanka recently has put the spotlight back on the Caribbean side and hopes of its redemption and return to past glory are being talked about all over the world. Although internal politics, selection and contractual issues contributed heavily towards their slump, what cannot be ignored is that the Windies never produced suitable and long term replacements for players of the caliber of Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding. The remarkable part about the team of the 1970s was not only their individual brilliance but how they combined as a team to create a golden era for West Indian cricket. Lack of potential has really not been so much of a concern for the Caribbean side. Brian Lara, Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh were extremely gifted players but they never clicked as a unit to revive West Indies cricket to its glorious past. The fact that the West Indies did not play in a World Cup final for more than 30 years is a testimony of the slump that Caribbean cricket experienced. The world beaters of the 1970s led by the charismatic Clive Lloyd had not only fearless batsmen but also a bunch of fear inducing fast bowlers. The West Indian pace battery comprising of Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding devastated batting line-ups throughout the world in the seventies and early eighties. The batting line-up led by Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd and perhaps the greatest all-rounder of all times Sir Gary Sobers tormented bowlers across the globe. The Darren Sammy-led squad, which triumphed in the T20 World Cup recently, cannot be compared to the side led by Clive Lloyd in any respect. However what we need to consider is the immediate history and circumstances that the team overcame to emerge champions. The team, plagued by selection and contractual issues, went without a Test series win at home against any formidable Test nation for four years. It is only when the West Indies selected and fielded the best players available that they achieved a Test series victory over New Zealand earlier this year. The T20 World Cup provided a perfect opportunity for the beleaguered side to re-establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with. The inclusion of big-hitters like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo among others meant that they went into the series not as minnows but as the dark horses capable of pulling off a victory. The bowling led by mystery spinner Sunil Narine and ably supported by Samuel Badree, Ravi Rampaul and skipper Darren Sammy also clicked in crucial situations. However, the game changer in the final against Sri Lanka was Marlon Samuels, who had shown a lot of promise in the past but had somehow failed to perform consistently. The best part about their victory was perhaps the fact that their World Cup campaign was not a one man show but a complete team effort. Darren Sammy, whose place in the side, let alone his captaincy, has always been questioned by critics on numerous occasions, proved his worth as an all-rounder by playing a crucial innings with the bat and backed it up with an impressive bowling spell in the final. Now with the T20 title under his belt, fans expect him to be a lot more assertive and aggressive in his decision making which should reflect in the overall performance of the team. Also Coach Ottis Gibson needs to play a crucial role in making sure that the players do not get carried away with this victory. The T20 triumph is at best a revival of sorts for the Windies and the larger goal of transforming this bunch of talented and positive players into a formidable Test side is still to be achieved. Only time will tell if the big hitting Windies batsmen have enough patience and grit to compete in the longest and the most challenging format of the game. The cricketing world is very optimistic of a revival in the fortunes of West Indies cricket and a possible return to the golden era of fiery quick bowlers and destructive and charismatic batsmen ripping teams apart with their aggressive style of play.