India - the world champs!!!!

India is the world champions of cricket and what an awesome feeling for 1.2 billion Indians !!! Many people of this generation were not even born when Kapil Dev's Indian team lifted the cup in 1983. So, except the proud momentous video of Kapil lifting the cup, many couln't even relate to that win. Because youngsters of this generation haven't seen Kapil, Gavaskar and Amarnath play cricket. All they know is Sachin Tendulkar!!!! This guy has been closely followed by the young Indians because they have grown up watching him play cricket. For many of them, Sachin experience in cricket i.e 21 years is their age.

After watching him do all that is possible in cricket: highest number of runs in tests, ODI, highest single innings score in ODI cricket, highest number of centuries in both tests and ODI's ... this is the one jewel in the crown that was elusive for little champion. So, no wonder when India won the world cup, he had tears in his eyes. Probably the first time anybody woud have seen Sachin, the child-faced legend cry literally like a child. That shows how much he wanted to have that world cup winners medal. So, now everything has been achieved by him and truly he has become the 'King of Cricket'!!!

Dhoni - the boy from the small town Ranchi and look where he has gone in just a space of seven years. He has done eveything as captain: Captain of the no: 1 test team, Captain of the IPL winning team, Captain of the champions league winning team and now Captain of the world cup winning Indian team. So, for sure he is the best captain for India after Sourav Ganguly. People shouldn't forget the strong foundation to this team laid by Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. They too deserve a tremendous applause for the way they had groomed today's senior players like Sehwag, Yuvraj singh, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan.

For me, the most important player to this team is Zaheer Khan. He has responded everytime India were in a bad position by taking very crucial wickets. Yuvraj Sigh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Munaf Patel had their moments. Harbhajan Singh was big let down. But that analysis can wait for later posts.

And finally, not least by any stretch of imagination is Gary Kirsten and his support staff. Gary along with Paddy Upton, mental conditioning coach and Eric Simmons, the bowling coach has transformed a very talented Indian team to be world beaters in every cricket stage. BCCI should do all that is possible to retain him as the Indian coach.

India V Pakistan : World cup 2011 to be at its peak

March 30th 2011..... and you can be sure that 2 nations will come to a standstill. Overwhelming joy for one nation and depressing sorrow for the other by the end of an event. And the event is India v Pakistan in Mohali., a dream semi-final in cricket's world cup this year. Cricket at its best, thanks to the biggest rivalry which potentially can change people's moods with flows and ebbs over the course of the 8 hours.

India's campaign has been one of ups and downs and they are yet to fire together as a team. Bowling has been a big worry throughout the tournament. Except Zaheer Khan, no bowler was able to bowl consistently which is a big worry. Harbhajan Singh has been a big let down, not able to spin his magic over the opposition. Admittedly, ever team has played Harbhajan comfortably. Potentially, Harbhajan will be under more pressure as the Pakistan batsmen play spin very well.

Munaf Patel has been hot and cold but he needs to be used a defensive bowler and Munaf does that role very well. Ashwin's inclusion has been a breath of fresh air and he will be the trump card for MS Dhoni.

India's batting is yet to peak and its best for them if people like Sehwag, Yuvraj,Dhoni and Raina play around the likes of Sachin, Kohli and Gambhir. Batting woes still persist and they would have to sort out the risk of a batting collpase in the first innings. Dhoni is yet to fire as a batsman and he generally plays well against Pakistan. Pakistan has clever bowlers like Gul, Razzaq and Afridi. They would challenge the Indian top order and they have to be prepared for the Pakistani onslaught.

Pakistan on the other hand, has a weak batting order and its highly reliant on Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq to pull them out from difficult situations. Watch out for the young Umar Akmal. This young lad has a great technique and will for sure shine in the future. Inconsistent batsman like Kamran Akmal and Afridi has to step up to the plate and be counted. Razzaq can be dangerous in his own ways. Bowling has beenn very strong throughout the tournament with the likes of Gul, Razzaq and Afridi. Its time for Shoaib Akhtar to be in the team and he will take the bowling to the next level.

Fielding has been a worry for both the teams and so don't expect sensational fielding effort from both the teams. So, on paper India looks a better team on paper but dont be surprised if Pakistanis upstage the Indians in Mohali. High octane matches like these make new heroes and ride their team all the way. The team which holds its nerve and controls pressure will eventually win the match. Either way, one sub-continental team will surely play the Final on April 2.

These days, 330 is the new 250 in ODI cricket : England given a taste of their own medicine

Kumble and his boys have given a batting paradise to the cricketing fraternity for this world cup so far. A pathetic decline in the bowling skills across the board have left batsmen the kings of cricket. Earlier it was the Indian bowlers who infused great amount of belief to many a the beach cricket bowlers in Chennai that they could challenge the Harbhajans and the Zaheer Khans of the world. Now its the turn of the English lads to show their ridiculously mediocre bowling prowess.

Broad, Anderson, Swann.. you name it and he was punished mercilessly. What an effort by the Irish boys to oust the heroes of the Ashes last year!!!! 'Associate nations sidelined for the next WC' - ahem... Get your papers tomorrow morning to see sea of green in the front pages. Egg on the faces on those who said these minnows just make up numbers for the Cricket WC in the Indian sub-continent.

Bangalore crowd - watch out for a shock again on Sunday!!! Indians should be very careful against these minnows and especially the lessers teams in the Group B. MSD - Dont think of South Africa and West Indies just yet. You have Ireland and Netherlands in the waiting.

Stats and scores can wait... Just not important in great games like these.. But for those stat-hungry people , England made 327/8, thanks to a decent knocks from Trott and Bell, but it was Kevin O'Brien's day out. Fabulous and one of best WC knocks rocketed Ireland to a win by 3 wickets against rivals-in-a-way England.

Cricket is played by batsman and also the BOWLERS : Tonight, Dhoni found out that the hard way

'Should Sachin come down the order? Should Dhoni promote himself up to No: 4? Should Raina play instead of Pathan?. Sachin or Sehwag play 40 overs every match and the match is in our bag. ' ------ Its all rubbish if you cant pick up 10 wickets in a match. You go in effectively with one and a half bowlers and very soon you will see the Indian cricket team just getting blown away by all the top teams out of this world cup. England batting was all top class, accepted but Indian bowlers looked irritatingly below par. They didnt show any skill, bowled as though they dont care about the outcome of the match.

World cup winners in the past have one thing in common. They had a potent bowling attack in their ranks, whether it was the West Indies team of the 70's, the pakistan team in '92 or the all powerful Australian attack of the past decade. I am not even suggesting that this Indian team shoould be compared with those teams. But the present Indian bowling attack is under the mercy of their batting legends to show off themselves as a decent bowling attack.

We will analyse the current bowling attack of the Indian worldcup squad:

Zaheer Khan : He is a very impornant wicket taking bowler and the whole team looks at him to get them early wickets. Yet he is not in the league of a Brett Lee or Dale Steyn. He is good only in conducive bolwing conditions. He will have some odd bad day like the one today and all of a sudden the whole fast bowling attack is under threat. To be honest, he is a steady bowler who could get you two wickets and give away 45 runs every match on an average. So, to expect him to run through sides will not happen. In the end of the day, he is no McGrath, Pollock or Dale Steyn. But he is vital to this Indian attack, else honestly there is no seam attack.

Harbhajan Singh: First of all, i was confused if i should put him in this list. Last time , i heard he wants to hit a ton in ODI. This guy has just forgotten his main skill and that was offspin. Somebody has to tell him that his primary duty in the team is to bowl 10 good overs of offspin and not just economical bowling but a aggressive bowling and go for wickets. If he goes on giving away 45 runs in tem overs without a wicket, he essentially is not doing his job. Best way to show him this is to drop him from the side and replace him with the talented R Ashwin. Infact, it would allow Ashwin to show his class and emerge as the next best spinner from India. So, Harbhajan Singh should be shown his place.

Sreesanth: He was not in the team but was a last minute draft in to replace a very talented Praveen Kumar. India will very badly miss Praveen whose wonderful in-swingers and out-swingers bamboozled South Africa and New Zealand in the home series last year. Sreesanth is no good if keeps leaking important runs in crucila matches like the ones against Bangladesh. Lets hope this guy doesn't get the white cherry for the rest of the world cup. If he gets in the team again in this WC, then something is wrong with the Indian captain.

Ashish Nehra: This injury prone cricketer should is a bad selection to this squad. Poor old Srikanth can do anything as he has to choose from the pool that is given to him only. So, Nehra is in not because of his bowling prowess but because the supply system has a structural problem in India not just in essential commodities but also in the market of fast bowlers.

Munaf Patel: He is a steady bowler and that his job in the Indian team. So, dont expect anything extra-ordinary from him. He will get you one or two wickets and give away 45 runs which is fair enough. Best part is he has a constant line and length and sticks to basics. So, we must allow him to just carry on with his job and maybe demand to be kuch more agile in the field.

R Ashwin: Get this guy in the team.. He is a talented off-spinner and has a good amount of variety in his bowling armoury. Many teams havent had a look at him and his unique style would be tough for others to pick him up. Also, he can bowl at any stage of the game unlike people like Harbhajan Singh who performs at specific situations only. Ashwin will be the first choice spinner in my team.

Piyush Chawla: A good selection and leg spinners always are a good bet to get wickets. Some people would argue that Ojha would have been a better bet but this guy is also good and nobody else bowls leg spin other than him in this sqaud. (Sachin can bowl leg spin, but what that he doesnt do in cricket).

So, this Indian team will falter, if not today, but in the course of this world cup, due to a NON-EXISTENT bowling attack.

ICC World Cup: Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the league match

Pakistan, true to their status of the dark horse in this cricket world cup has beaten Sri Lanka in the Group A league match. Sri Lanaka played Pakistan in the Premadasa stadium in Colombo in the Day/Night encounter. Pakistan Skipper Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan had an unchanged team but Sri Lanka had made two changes in the team: Batsman Chamara Silva in for Kapugedera and Left armer Rengana Herath replaced the magic bowler Ajantha Mendis. Lasith Malinga was rested for the match.

Pakistan's batting got to a shaky start losing three quick wickets and then ace batsman Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq steadied the ship. They had a quick 100-run partnership. Both Younis and Misbah reached their fifties. After some last few over burst,Pakistan managed to fighting total of 277/7 in the alloted 50 overs. Sri Lankan bowling was steady and medium pacer Kulasekara and Murali along with Rengana Herath bowled a decent spells. Herath and Perara picked up 2 wickets while Murali finished a economical spell of bowling with one wicket giving away only 35 runs.

Sri Lanka had a positive opening partnership between Tharanga and Dilshan. But in came Hafeez and picked up tharanga for 33 and Dishan was bowled by Afridi. Suddenly, Sri Lanka lost 3 quick wickets with Akhtar showing glimpses of his past performance bowling out Mahela Jayawardena. Sangakarra and Chamara Silva played a calm innings and came up with a good parnership. Sangakarra was picked up by Afridi for 49 and there started the slide for Sri Lanka.

Chamara Silva tried his best but eventually fell for a well made 57 though he consumed a lot of deliveries.

Sri Lanka was able to get only to 265/9 and Pakistan won by 11 runs. This is Sri Lanka's first world cup loss in their country and Pakistan extended their unbeaten streak against Sri Lanka in worl cup's to seven matches in a row.

Pakistan could well be the dark horse team which could go all the way to win this world cup. Lets hope they do it, which could bring some joy to the war-torn country.

India to play Bangladesh in the World cup opener today

India will start its quest for first cricket world cup triumph in almost 28 years today. India take on Bangladesh in the world cup opener in Mirpur, Bangladesh. India start the tournament as one of strong contenders to win this year's world cup. Also in the reckoning for the title triumph are the likes of Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia. Pakistan and West Indies will be the dark horses. Although, after India, i would like to see Pakistan lift the world cup this time. Let's look at the India's chances at this world cup.

India: Undoubtedly, India look much better side on paper. India's strength lie in their batting line-up. Likes of Sehwag, Virat Kohli and Yusuf Pathan hold the key for India's batting performance. Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh are not in their best of nicks and Yuvraj's place in the playing XI is under doubt, though his part-time left armers could be useful for the team in the middle overs. Pity that the man around which the Indian batting revolved around couple of years ago is going through a very bad batting form for the past year and a half. But with Raina also not in inspiring form with the bat, Yuvraj might just be able to cling on to his place in the XI. All said, if he can somehow rediscover his form, India's chances will become even more brighter. Gambhir has been hot and cold in the past year with injuries not helping his cause either. If he doesn't bring back his dream form displayed not so long ago, then there is a strong possiblity of him being dropped from the team. Then we have the grand old man of the Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar. Last WC and expectation of him helping the young team to win the World cup are all weighing on this man. In terms of the records, eveything has been achieved and its time he guides this team for the rest of his career. Pressure is not a new dragon to the most sort after Indian in the planet and he would want to win this cup badly for himself and for the team.

MS Dhoni, the blue-eyed boy of the Indian team and its captain has so far done massively impressive job with the team. He along with coach Gary Kirsten have brought a new sense of freedom to this Indian team. There were previous Indian teams which were counted as one of the favourites for the cup, but this time, they have a strong, astute and well-balanced captain at the helm. You would see him not over joyed if he wins a match or become a bogged and point fingers on his players when he loses a match or the WC itself. Avery important thing is that no matter what happens, whether India win the WC or not, MS Dhoni is expected to captain this team for a long time to come. So, actaully he enjoys some amount of comfort zone. Previous WC's have seen Indian captains sacked after losing the WC, which itself is an added pressure on the captain.

Indian bowling looks vulnerable and not the best bowling attack by any stretch of imagination. A lot rides on Zaheer Khan and his bowling prowess. He is a wicket-taker. We need wicket-takers and India doesnt them apart from Zaheer Khan. Harbhajan Singh has been mainly doing a containing job rather than a wicket-taker. Surely, he should be replaced with Ashwin if he doesnt take vital wickets in earlier games. Otherwise, Indian baowlers have nothing much to write about and i have to say Praveen Kumar will be hugely missed in this world cup.

So, Indian batters have score a minimum 50 runs more than the winning score in every match to compensate for their hole in the bowling and appaling fielding they display in the park. That is an added disadvantage in itself.

India win the opening warm-up game against Australia

India have won the opening warm-up game in the World cup 2011 against Australia. India batted first and scored only 213, thanks to lacklustre performance by the Indian batsmen. Apart from Sehwag and Ashwin who held the batting together, other Indian batsmen just were not good enough. Earlier in the day, Sachin Tendulkar didn't feel the need to play the warm-up game against a very formidable Australian side. A few experts justified his decision of him not playing the game as he has wealth of experience in the ODI format. I guess, each game is so much different and has its own experiences.

Australia managed just 173 and Ricky Ponting played well for his fifty. Indian bowlers especially the spinners were just too good for the Australian batsmen. Chawla picked up four wickets and Harbhajan walked away with three wickets. The pitch admittedly was two paced and just under-prepared to say the least. India now take on New Zealand in Chennai on 16th February in their second warm-up game before starting their world cup campaign against Bangladesh in Mirpur on February 19th 2011.

IPL 2011 - All new format

Indian Premier League will come home with a new format in 2011. The GC(Governing Council) chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, MK Pataudi and Ravi Shastri have come up with the new format for IPL edition 4.
In each of the next three seasons, the IPL will comprise 70 league matches and four playoffs. The ten teams(including the two new teams, Pune and Kochi) will be split into two groups of five each.
An extension of the current home-and-away format would have stretched the season to 94 matches, which had prompted concerns of player burn-out. Franchise owners were also reluctant to reduce the minimum number of matches their team would play each season. These constraints have led to a convoluted format.

1.Every team will play the same number of league games (14, 7 home and 7 away) as in previous seasons with the following break-up:
a) Each team will play the other four in its group both home and away (eight matches),
b) Each team will play four of the teams in the other group once (four matches, either home or away)
c) it will play the remaining team in the other group twice, both home and away. A random draw will decide the composition of the groups as well as who plays whom across the groups once and twice.

2.The teams that finish first and second in the league table will contest the first playoff, which is effectively a semi-final. The loser of this match shouldn't loose heart. To know why, read on......
3. The teams that finish third and fourth will play each other in a knockout that is effectively a quarter-final.
4. The loser of the first Semi-Final will play the winner of the Quarter Final in a match that will decide the second finalist that will play the winner of first Semi-Final in the grand final.

Each of the ten franchises can retain up to four players( 3 Domestic Players and 1 Overseas Player only). The retained players must have been part of the franchise's registered squads for the 2010 season and will not be part of November's auction.

The franchise and the player it wishes to retain must come to a mutual agreement regarding the retention and the fee for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

•$1.8 million per year for the first player retained
•$1.3 million per year for the second player retained
•$900,000 per year for the third player retained
•$500,000 per year for the fourth player retained

Therefore, if a franchise decides to retain four players, it will be charged $4.5 million per year and will have only $4.5 million to spend on other players, compared to the $9 million available to a franchise that retains no one. Also, the size of the squad is capped at 30 players(10 Overseas players and 20 Domestic Players). In all, the total number of players will be 300 in IPL4. But only 4 Overseas player can feature in the Final XI.

Hopefully, IPL4 will be a cracker of a contest rather than it cracking under the pressure of off-field controversies which plagued the last three editions.

Davis cup: India beats South Africa to enter world group stage

India No. 1 Somdev Devvarman beat Rik de Voest 3-6, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4 in a marathon first reverse singles to win the Davis Cup World Group play-off 3-1 against South Africa. Tenacity of Somdev and Voest engineered a prodigious tennis game which the Indian won ,after an energy-sapping four hour and 38 minutes battle at the Ellis Park indoor stadium.India last played in 16-team World Group in 1998 when it lost 1-4 to Italy. Thrice India reached in the final of the World Group but finished runners-up on all occasions.
India have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie. Junior Australian Open champion Yuki Bhambri will make his Davis Cup debut in the dead singles rubber.

India becomes No:1 ODI team in the world

A disciplined India spanked New Zealand by six wickets in a drab low-scoring match to book a berth in Monday's final against Sri Lanka in the Compaq cup 2009. With this India for the first time in history becomes No:1 in ODI cricket. New Zealand crashed out of the Compaq Cup triangular series following a comprehensive six-wicket defeat to India at Colombo.

New Zealand were beaten for the second day in succession as India after Sri Lanka beat them last wednesday.

After scoring just 119 in their series opening defeat to Sri Lanka on Tuesday, the Kiwis managed just 155 at the same venue before India eased to the target to book a final date with the home nation.Sachin Tendulkar hit six fours in 46 in reply, before skipper Mahendra Dhoni and Suresh Raina shared an unbroken 72 to win it with 57 balls left.

Sachin Tendulkar's new bat

Sachin Tendulkar and his MRF bat have been synonymous for the past 13 years. It was a big hit among young kids and parents literally bought MRF bats, so that there kids will also become a Sachin Tendulkar. But now, after 13 years of association with MRF, Sachin Tendulkar will sport a new bat. Adidas will sponsor that bat and Sachin's bat will bear its name on it.

Sachin Tendulkar is playing active cricket after a long well deserved rest. He played his last cricket match in South Africa in IPL 2 for Mumbai Indians. He said during the function that ODI's should be more innovative if it wants to survive the T20 assault. He also said that he hasn't thought about retirement yet.

Apparel major Adidas today announced its foray into cricket equipment business in the country and said it plans to become a leader in the over Rs 100-crore organised cricket gears market in the next five years. The company's long-standing brand ambassador Sachin Tendulkar was the main design advisor for the new range. During the first two years, Adidas is aiming to capture at least a double-digit share of the organised cricket equipment.
The marketing campaign for the new range will be spearheaded by Sachin Tendulkar.

ICC Awards 2009: MS Dhoni gets three nominations

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan head the list of nominees for the annual International Cricket Council awards, with both being nominated in three categories. Dhoni had earlier won the ODI Player of the Year in 2008 and was also named in the ODI Team of the Year. Dhoni was nominated in three categories - ICC Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year awards.Amit Mishra was nominated as the emerging player of 2009.Dilshan, yet to win an ICC award, was also nominated for cricketer and test player of the year, plus Twenty20 performance of the year.

Indian pacer Zaheer Khan also found his name in the list of nominees, after he was named as a strong contender for the T20 Performer of the Year award for his 4/19 against Ireland.Gautam Gambhir and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh made the grade for the Cricketer of the Year award.

VVS Laxman joined the trio of Dhoni, Gambhir and Harbhajan to be in the line for the Test Player of the Year award while Yuvraj and Sehwag were also in the fray for the honour of ODI Player of the Year. In the women's section, Mithali Raj and Priyanka Roy were nominated.

The long list of nominees in the eight award categories was announced well ahead of the official ceremony in South Africa on Oct. 1.

Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella moves to Ferrari

Belgian GP runner-up Giancarlo Fisichella has completed a temporary switch to Ferrari for the rest of the F1 season. Fisichella would replace Luca Badoer, who has struggled as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa. With Massa definitely out of the reckoning till next year, Ferrari made a call to Force India boss Vijay Mallya and requested him to release Fisichella. Fisichella's move to Ferrari is now confirmed. Force India likely to call up Vitantonio Liuzzi to take Fisichella's place.

Badoer, Ferrari's official reserve driver, was drafted in to replace the injured Felipe Massa after legendary seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher was forced to shelve his comeback plans. Fisichella's contract with Force India runs out at the end of the 2009 season.
Massa is recovering at home in Brazil after suffering a fractured skull in a crash during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.Ferrari are believed to have run out of patience with Badoer, who has qualified last at both of his races so far.
While Raikkonen won the race at Spa, Badoer trailed in last, nearly 48 seconds slower than the driver in front.
The Italian GP is on the 13 September, followed by Grands Prix in Singapore and Japan, before the teams head to Brazil. Though, the constructor's championship for Ferrari is out of question this year, Ferrari intends to have a strong second driver to support Kimi Raikonnen. Felipe Massa could return to active F1 only next season. Fisichella'stransfer will be a great boost for Ferrari and can give Kimi Raikonnen much needed support. Felipe Massa, meanwhile can concentrate on his full recovery and comeback stronger next season.

Raikonnen wins Belgium GP; Force India's Fisichella takes second position

It was a close race and who would have thought the race to the top would be between F1's top budget team Ferrari and the "low -budget" Force India. It was a dream weekend for India's liquor barron Vijay Mallya-owned Force India. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella of Force India got into a shock pole position. The race started with Fisichella having a clean start while Kimi Raikonnen in his Ferrari over stearing in the first corner and somehow with his adept driving joining the track at third position.The biggest irony of the race was when Fisichella was racing first, his team-mate Adrian Sutil was at last. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton got into a worst collision in Belgian Grandprix in years and soon found out that he was out of the race along with Brawn's Jenson Button.

Kimi Raikonen with his superior Ferrari car took the top slot. Soon it was Kimi vs Fisichella with Fisichella pushing the Finn right to his limit. With both having a 2-pitstop strategy, both fought to gain every second of the race. Meanwhile, a pitstop mistake from Renault team had Alonso retiring from the race. The final showdown with Ferrari and Force India both going to pits at the samew position was mindboggling and it was Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen who secured his top slot and Fischella settling for a second position. Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel came third. Barrichello in his Brawn GP had a heart-stopping last three laps due to an engine leak finished seventh and hold on to his second place in Champioship points.

Jenson Button still holds his No:1 in terms of Championship points followed by his teammate in Brawn GP, Rubens Barrichello. In constructors championship, Brawn hold on to its top position, while Red Bull and Ferrari are at second and third position respectively.

Race Result:

1. Kimi Raikkonnen(Finland) - Ferrari.

2. Giancarlo Fisichella(Italy)- Force India.

3. Sebastien Vettel(Germany)- Red Bull.

Force India's Fisichella takes pole position in Belgium

Nobody could believe their eyes.Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella took pole position in the Belgian Grand Prix in an extraordinary qualifying session.The 36-year-old's performance created a sensation not only because it was the team's first pole, but also because the team is yet to score a single point in its one and a half years of existence.The Mercedes-powered Force India, with a new aerodynamic upgrade introduced at the last race in Valencia, has genuine pace particularly at a fast and flowing circuit like Spa - and Fisichella made the most of it.

The good news for Button is that the Red Bulls also struggled with their set-up, Sebastian Vettel qualifying in eighth and Mark Webber ninth, and they are likely to find a McLaren in their rear view mirrors before too long. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was another favourite to falter badly, after qualifying 12th fastest.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli will start second for Sunday's race ahead of BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Barrichello's Brawn. Kimi Raikonnen will start from sixth in the grid while his team mate Badoer, who replaced injured Felipe Massa continued to have a horrible time at the circuit as he spun off the track to finish last in qualifying. His days in Ferrari are literally numbered. Hopefully, Force India will grab their first points in 29 races.

Salman Khan to buy an IPL team

Bollywood action hero Salman Khan is the latest cine star to join the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has expressed interest in buying a team. The bollywood star met Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi and expressed his desire to be the owner of an IPL team.Salman is eyeing an IPL team in the 2010 season. Modi said that Salman had approached to discuss all the pros and cons of buying an IPL team. Modi also confirmed that the actor would be buying one of the new teams and was not interested in any of the existing ones.

A lot of Bollywood actors are a part of the cash-rich T20 League with Shah Rukh Khan owning the Kolkata Knight Riders, Preity Zinta with partner Ness Wadia owning the Kings XI Punjab, and Shilpa Shetty, with Raj Kundra, owning the Rajasthan Royals.

The fourth season of the IPL in 2011 will see two new teams and they would be up for grabs through a bidding process later this year. This takes the total number of teams in 2011 season to ten teams. Auctions for two teams will take place in January 2010. The cities that would go under the hammer would be decided by December this year at the latest. Each team could fetch the BCCI anywhere between $200-300 million. Likely cities that could be auctioned are Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Vishakhaptanam and be the hometown for new teams.

Wasim Akram to coach Kolkatta Knight Riders

Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, inarguably the most gifted left-arm quick of all time, is in the frame to take John Buchanan’s place in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ set-up. The good rapport between Akram and KKR captain Sourav Ganguly may well seal the deal for him. This process, which includes a presentation, is to be completed by the end of this week. Sourav Ganguly who is tipped to regain the captaincy next season, may be present at the meeting. Akram is part of the final few coaches who have been called on August 30.

India's former coach John Wright was the frontrunner to succeed Buchanan, who’d been the franchise’s head of cricket operations until his sacking two months ago. However, impressive presentations by Richard Pybus and Duncan Fletcher have opened up the race somewhat. Others who may be interviewed for the post include former Aussie all-rounder Michael Bevan and former Indian wicket-keeper Praveen Amre. Former Indian batsmen WV Raman, Ashok Malhotra and Lalchand Rajput made their presentations in front of principal owner Shah Rukh Khan and Ganguly last week.

Akram's candidature, however, is not expected to carry much weight because, the former Pakistani legend would essentially be a bowling coach and Akram himself is less keen on a full-time coach's job and would like to work as a consultant. Also, Wasim Akram has prior media commitments with ESPN-Star Sports.

England regain the Ashes; Ponting eyes 2013 tour to England

England regained the Ashes after beating Australia by 197 runs Sunday to win the deciding fifth test and take the five-match series 2-1. Michael Hussey was the last man out after tea at The Oval, for 121, for Australia to be dismissed for 348 chasing a mammoth 546 for victory.England, 2-1 victors, had grabbed back the oldest prize in sport, in a repeat of the scoreline four years ago, which made household names of Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan.

With a day to spare. That was the lovely part. For once, England’s cricketers did not test the resources of an already overworked bench strength of English cricketers.

This is not a vintage Ashes year, it must be said. Australians didnot have the aura and invincibility that they possessed for alomost a decade. The "ruthless assault" which created panic and frightened oppositions across the board is no longer their traits. Perhaps, they have become vulnerable without the presence of all those greats.Had Andrew Strauss, deservedly the player of the tournament, newcomer Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann not batted so superbly to set such a vast total, England would not have been safe.
This may be an average Australian team in relative terms, but in Ponting it possesses one of sport’s greatest competitors, and had England not risen to the occasion at The Oval, the momentum Australia achieved with the victory at Headingley in the fourth Test would have been unstoppable. Australian captain Ricky Ponting, was the perhaps the main culprit. His batting skills have seen a sharp decline and his captaincy is not something to write home about. At cricial moments, like his run out in the second innings in The Oval, he failed to take the bull by its horns. Having said that, as the old saying goes, the captain will only be as good as his team.Ricky Ponting became the first Australia captain to lose two Ashes series in England in 119 years and then indicated he will try to return for the next tour in 2013 to avenge the defeats of 2005 and 2009, which may not be all that easy as discovered by Shane Warne this year.

Due to this loss against England,Australia now drop down to No 4 on the Test rankings.This is the first time that any country other than Australia has filled top spot in both formats of the game. It is the first time that Australia have lost the No 1 Test ranking since the current system was introduced in 2003. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka with their win against New Zealand claimed No:2 spot followed by India at No:3.

Rahul Dravid recalled to Indian one-day squad

Rahul Dravid is to make a return to one-day international cricket after being picked for India's tri-series trip to Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.The Indian selectors have picked a common 15-member squad for both the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka and the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa.The 36-year-old, who last played an ODI in October 2007 against Australia in seven match series in Nagpur, is included in India's tri-series trip to Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Indian selectors hope the 36-year-old will bolster the batting in the Champions Trophy on pacy South African pitches. A young Indian batting unit struggled against short-pitched bowling at the Twenty20 World Cup in England.As expected, Tendulkar who made himself unavailable for the four-match ODI series in the West Indies in June-July, is back to the squad along with Suresh Raina. Selectors have also retained wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and all-rounder Abhishek Nayar, while leg-spinner Amit Mishra is picked at the expense of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. Medium pacer Praveen Kumar pipped a promising Sudeep Tyagi and gets a ticket to fly to Sri Lanka and South Africa

Explosive opening batsman Virender Sehwag is not in the squad as he is yet to recover from the shoulder injury sustained in the IPL.Fast bowler Zaheer Khan was already ruled out because of a shoulder injury.The tri-series in Sri Lanka, which has New Zealand as the third team, is set to begin on September 8 while the eight-nation Champions Trophy will be held from September 24 to October 5.

The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and WK), Yuvraj Singh(VC),Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Gautham Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayyar, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Michael Schumacher calls off his comeback to F1

Michael Schumacher has called off his highly anticipated return to Formula One.He has not recovered from a neck injury he sustained in a motorcycling accident earlier this year.The seven times world champion had been due to replace Ferrari's Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23.He announced on his personal Web site that these plans have now been scrapped.

Since confirming he was to make an F1 return, Schumacher has been pushing himself hard to get back to race fitness. The consequences of the injuries caused in February, fractures in the area of head and neck, unfortunately have turned out to be still too severe to pave way for his F1 comeback in his favourite car Ferrari.The German driver said the decision had been an extremely difficult one to make and he apologised to everyone at Ferrari and to fans of the sport.

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer will now replace Massa in Valencia.Massa is recovering in Brazil from the serious injuries he received in a freak crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and is set to miss at least four races.

Schumacher has worked as a special adviser to Ferrari since his retirement from Formula One in 2005, after winning five championships during his time with the team.The German, who won 91 grands prix from 250 races, is the most successful driver to take part in the sport.