Australia Clinch Fifth World Cup Title

After 45 days of fight between 14 teams, finally Australia Clinch their fifth World Cup title beating New Zealand in the final in MCG. Australian Captain Michael Clarke retired from ODI cricket. Match was completely in favor of Australia from beginning. New Zealand lost their captain in the first over and lost top three in first 15 overs. Whole team got out for 183 runs in 45 overs.

Australian Bowlers Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner took three wickets each and Starc took two important wickets. Grant Elliott top scored for the black caps with 83 but New Zealand hopes of winning the World Cup for the first time were dealt a savage blow when they lost last seven wickets in just 33 runs. Australia reached their victory target in 34^th over for the loss of just three wickets. Clarke, playing his last match made important 74 runs in just 72 balls.

Steven Smith is likely to be the new Australian Captain. Martin Guptill from New Zealand remained as the top scorer in the World Cup with 547 runs. Trent Boult and Starc shared most wicket dismissal figures of 22 wickets. Brad Haddin was the most successful wicket keepers in the World Cup with 16 dismissals. Chris Gayle hit 26 numbers of sixes which are most by any player. Guptill hit 59 fours which are most in the tournament by a single player.

James Faulkner won the man of the match award for his brilliant bowling spell and Mitchell Starc won the man of the Tournament Award for his 22 wickets. This was 400^th world cup game out of 3646 total ODI games played till now. Brad Haddin was the oldest Australian batsman to play in the final at MCG in 2015. Seven number of New Zealand players got out on ducks in two matches against Australia in 2015 World Cup.

In 2011, both hosting nations played final and the one hosting final won the cup. This same incident happened this time too. Both hosting nation played final and one hosting final match won the Tournament. Next world cup will held in England in 2019 from 30 May to 15 July and final will be played in Lords.

T1 Prima Truck Racing

T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship is a Truck Racing Championship in India by Tata Motors. This event was first held on 23 March 2014 at Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida. This racing championship had drivers from British Truck racing Championship and the European Truck Racing Championship. This event is also mention on the calendar of FIA and Federation of Motor Sports Club of India.

The inaugural season was won by Stuart Oliver. There were twelve Prima Trucks which were divided into six teams having two trucks each. The Prima Truck had a massive power of 370 bhp @2100 rpm and a top speed of 110 kmph. The trucks were modified as per guidelines of British Truck racing championship Association to provide maximum safety and performance. The team participating were- Castrol Vecton, Cummins, TATA Technologies Motor Sports, Dealer Daredevils, Dealer Warriors, and Allied Partners.

The second season of the Championship was held at same circuit on 15 March 2015. The second season was hit by rain. It was again won by Stuart Oliver of Castrol Vecton. The race is of 16 Laps. With this second season it is trying to bring the concept of truck racing in India especially for the younger generation. This is expected to change the mind and thoughts for driving a truck as a fashion product and not any more as a boring engine box carrying tons of loads.

The Tata’s received immense support from various partners from all over the world, from Cummins, WABCO, JK Tyres, and Castrol to Tata Technology itself being one of the sponsors. With the help of these supporting partners the Tata’s have been able to build a better Prima Product than before. 

Cricket World Cup 2015: Semi-Final Clashes

Last week of Cricket World Cup 2015 has started and finally out of 14 teams in the tournament, four teams are left to compete against each other. Only one team from Asia is able to make it to the semi-finals this year. In Quarter Finals, all Asians teams played their matches and three of them went back. Sri Lanka ended their long streak of reaching semi-finals this year. Pakistan was knocked out again by Australia this year. Bangladesh was knocked out by India and West Indies by New Zealand.

India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand made into the finals. India will face Australia in Semi-final number two on 26^th March in Sydney. New Zealand will face South Africa in Semi-Final number one on 24^th March in Auckland. This year there will be space for only one team out of South Africa and New Zealand to reach finals. None of the team has ever won the cup. Australia will be playing their seventh consecutive semi-final on Thursday. However, they lose one game in this tournament against New Zealand by one wicket.

Australia also has advantage over India having won seven matches out of ten world Cup clash. Australia also came out on top in a tri-series against India and England, a month before world cup. However, India turnaround has been an impressive one. Bowlers have performed well and bowled out opposition team within 50 overs in every game. Batsman played well and top four making centuries in any of the game. Shikhar Dhawan did it twice and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina made it once. Captain Cool Dhoni also did well in middle against West Indies and Zimbabwe.

In first clash between New Zealand and South Africa, New Zealand has advantage over Caribbean’s. New Zealand will be playing in their home and batting efforts from Top five batsmen is quite impressive in this tournament. Bowlers are also doing well with Boult as the leading wicket taker and Southee and Vettori giving valuable contributions. South Africa will have to fight hard to win the game. However, they did against Sri Lanka. AB and Amla are top performers and Quinton and Du Plessis giving valuable support. Morkel, Tahir, and Steyn bowled well in the tournament but their losses against India and Pakistan make them less favorite.

My predictions are India and New Zealand will play Finals or it may happen both home teams will knocked out and India and South Africa will face each other again in Finals. Australia can beat India because of their home advantage.

2015 Sudirman Cup

The Sudirman Cup is the world mixed team Badminton Championship which takes place every two years. There are five matches in every round in Men singles, Women Singles, Men and Women Doubles and Mixed Doubles categories. The cup is named after Dick Sudirman, a former Indonesian badminton player and the founder of the Badminton Association of Indonesia. There is no prize money in the Sudirman Cup, players play for their respective countries and to earn BWF Ranking points and national prestige.

In 2015 format, there are four groups with each group sub-divided into more groups. Group One has four sub groups. Rest of the groups is divided into two subgroups. This year, Sudirman Cup will held in Dongguan, China. India is placed in Group 1D with Korea and Malaysia. The tournament will start from May 10 and last up to May 17. India will solely depend on the singles stars such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Kidambi Srikanth, and Parupalli Kashyap.

Group 1A is consists of China, Thailand, and Germany with China as the strong contender. Group 1B consists of Japan, USA, and Chinese Taipei. Group 1C is named as Group of Death with Denmark, Indonesia, and England. Teams in Group 1 will play two stages: group play off followed by knockout. The top two teams from each sub group will qualify for the knock out. China has been the most dominant nation in the Sudirman Cup, having won nine editions. Indonesia and Korea have lifted the trophy once and thrice.

The Sudirman Cup for the World Mixed Team Championships feature 35 teams divided into four groups. Of these, the top 12 ranked teams in Group 1 will vie for the trophy, while the other teams will fight for the ranking spots.

Here are the groups for the Sudirman Cup:

Group 1:

Group 1A: China, Thailand, Germany

Group 1B: Japan, Chinese Taipei, USA

Group 1C: Denmark, Indonesia, England

Group 1D: India, Korea, Malaysia

Group 2:

Group 2A: Russia, Hong Kong China, Canada, Spain

Group 2B: Singapore, Netherlands, France, Brazil

Group 3:

Group 3A: Czech Republic, Turkey, South Africa, Australia

Group 3B: Vietnam, Australia, Italy, Switzerland

Group 4:

Group 4A: Nigeria, Philippines, Iceland

Group 4B: Israel, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Kazakhstan

Lewis Hamilton won Australian GP

The inaugural race of 66^th Formula One Championship is won by Lewis Hamilton. He made the perfect start to the defence of his Formula One world championship with one of the straightest win of his career in Albert Park, Australia. It was Hamilton 34^th win and first wins in Albert Park since his championship year of 2008. He led from start to finish, driving well within himself to push team-mate Nico Rosberg into second place, followed by Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari, Felipe Massa from Williams, debutant Felipe Nasr from Sauber, and Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton won with +1.360 seconds from Rosberg who came second. Hamilton average speed was 200.80 MPH. But this was the race totally dominated by Mercedes, who didn’t even flex their considerable muscle for a one-two result. With Red Bull and McLaren looking in disappointing form, it will be up to Ferrari and Williams to make this a competitive season. Apart from Mercedes the happiest team was Sauber, with Felipe Nasr finished fifth and Marcus Ericsson eighth after the team’s very difficult week fighting legal problems.

It was also an encouraging day for Force India after their recent financial problems, with both drivers finishing among their points. There were only 11 finishers, with most of the causalities falling before or at the start of the race. Last man Jenson Button was the only driver to finish out of the points. Valtteri Bottas, who had qualified for sixth place on the grid, was ruled unfit by an FIA medical delegate because of a tear in his lower back, and had to withdraw.

With Manor not taking part this reduced the official starting grid to 17 cars. But there were only 15 at the start because both Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat failed to survive their reconnaissance laps. Magnussen came to a halt between turns five and six with a plume of smoke coming out of his car and Kvyat spun into gravel with suspected transmission trouble. After second lap there were only 13 cars left. Meanwhile, Hamilton had to go off to a good start ahead of his team mate Rosberg and won the first race of 2015.

Next Formula One race will be in Petronas Malaysia from 27-29 March. 

All England Badminton Championship 2015

All England Badminton Championship is one of the world oldest and most prestigious Badminton tournaments. Played annually, it developed after the success of world’s first badminton tournament held in Guildford in 1898. The tournament was originally organized in three categories Men’s doubles, Women’s doubles and Mixed Doubles. Both Men and Women Singles were added later. It was eventually considered the unofficial world championship of the sport until 1977 when the International Badminton Federation launched its official championships. Since 1984 the tournament has been exclusively sponsored by Yonex.

The 2015 Championships was played from March 3^rd to March 8^th in Birmingham, England. Carolina Marin beat Saina Nehwal on Sunday to win the Women single title of the All England badminton championships. The Spaniard reigning world Champion beat the Indian champion by 17-21, 21-14, 21-7. Marin became the first left hander to win the championship in Birmingham. Saina missed to clinch a slice of history to become the first Indian woman to win the event.

Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pulella Gopichand (2001) are the only Indians to have won this title. On Saturday, Saina defeated Sun Yu of China in straight sets to become the first Indian woman to qualify for the prestigious tournament. This was only second time in a decade when two non-Chinese players played in the women’s single final at the All England Championships. In 2013, Tine Baun of Denmark beat Thai Ratchanok Inthanon in the final. In that Edition, Inthanon defeated Saina in the semis.

Saina best result in this BWF Superseries Premier event had been two Semi-final appearances in 2010 and 2013. In her previous eight appearances, starting 2007, she also made three other quarter-finals. In men’s championship, China Chen Long earns the title for men’s singles for the second time. The 26 year old player kept calm throughout the game and did not let in distractions. He played against Dane Jan O Jorgensen from Denmark. Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen from Denmark won the men’s doubles. Bao Yixin and Tang Yuanting from China won the women’s doubles. Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei from China won the mixed doubles trophy in the tournament. The 2016 edition of the tournament will be released soon.

2015 Formula One Calendar

The 2015 Formula One season will be the 66^th season of the Formula One world Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognized by the sport governing body, the Federation International of Automobile. Twenty drivers representing ten teams will contest twenty Grand Prix, starting in Australia on 15 March and ending in Abu Dhabi on 29 November. Lewis Hamilton is the defending champion after securing his second title at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Mercedes will begin the season as the defending constructor champion, having securing its first championship title at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix.

The pre-season test drive had already taken place in Spain in February. Car launches is also done in month of January and February. The Ten teams participating in the tournament are Williams, Lotus, McLaren-Honda, Ferrari, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Mercedes, and Force India. Season will kick from Australia and end in Abu Dhabi. The 2015 Calendar is as follow:-

March 15: Australian GP, March 29: Malaysia GP, April 12: Chinese GP, April 19: Bahrain GP, May 10: Spanish GP, May 24: Monaco GP, June 7: Canadian GP, June 21: Austrian GP, July 5: British GP, July 19: German GP, July 26: Hungarian GP, August 23: Belgian GP, September 6: Italian GP, September 20: Singapore GP, September 27: Japanese GP, October 11: Russian GP, October 25: U.S. GP, November 1: Mexican GP, November 15: Brazilian GP, November 29: Abu Dhabi GP.

This season Honda will return to Formula One as an Engine Supplier to McLaren. Lotus will change engine suppliers, ending their association with Renault in favor of a deal with Mercedes. Fernando Alonso will replace Kevin Magnussen at McLaren. Sebastian Vettel left at Red Bull Racing at the end of 2014 season after fifteen years and join Ferrari in the place of Alonso. Daniil Kvyat was promoted to Red Bull form Toro Russo to fill the seat vacated by Vettel. Mexican Grand Prix is returned in this season for the first time since 1992. Grand prix of America, Indian Grand Prix, and Korean Grand Prix failed to race bids and will not take part in this season.

The driver line-ups of all teams with one reserved driver are here. Mercedes Drivers are Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with Pascal Wehriein as Reserved Driver. Red Bull drivers are Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat with Sebastien Buemi as reserved driver. Williams drivers are Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa with Susie Wolff as reserved driver. Ferrari drivers are Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen with Esteban Gutierrez as reserved driver. McLaren drivers are Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button with Kevin Magnussen as reserved driver.

Force India drivers are Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso drivers are Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus drivers are Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado with Jolyon Palmer as reserved driver. Sauber drivers are Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr with Raffaele Marciello as reserved driver. Manor drivers are Will Stevens and one place is still vacant for one a driver. Fernando Alonso was involved in a pre-season testing accident that saw the two-time world champion hospitalized. Alonso withdrew from the season opening Australian Grand Prix prompting the team to replace him with Kevin Magnussen for the race. 

Cricket World Cup 2015: Race for Centuries

In the ongoing Cricket World Cup key players are showing good performances from beginning. Asian teams were not among favorite in the tournament but now they are. India and Sri Lanka have shown great performances until now. Except this, there is race for centuries going on between some players. With every century some other record is broken. There are seven batsmen in this race, four Asians, two Africans, and one Caribbean.

First is Kumar Sangakkara, 37 years old Sri Lankan wicket keeper batsman is on the top with 23 centuries in this world cup. He scored two back to back centuries in last matches, which brought him on the top. He had also broken Ganguly record of 23 centuries. His tally of ODI centuries is 23. Kumar is followed by Kohli and Gayle. Both are sharing century stats with 22 ODI centuries. Gayle recently broke highest World Cup runs record. Kohli is youngest among all. He is 26 years old and holds stats of 22 Centuries. His consistent performance over past years makes him the most favorite batsmen to be on top in coming time.

On fourth place is Dilshan, 38 years old Sri Lankan batsmen with 21 centuries and he is in his good form these days. This could be his last world cup. He is also in the race to add more centuries in his stats. After him comes fastest player AB de Villiers, 31 years old South African batsmen. He is on fifth place and his tally is of 20 ODI centuries. This year he broke fastest fifty, century and fastest 150 records against one same team. He can anytime change cards and be on the top.

On sixth and seventh place is Sri Lankan Jayawardene and South African Hashim Amla. Amla consistent performance and his 50+ average make him favorite to move forward quickly. His tally is at 20 centuries and Jayawardene stat is at 19 centuries. Mahela Jayawardene is also in his good form to add more centuries in his stats. Among all seven four of them may end their career soon after this World Cup. Virat is youngest among all and has advantage of time and more matches. Let us stay tuned and watch out for these players, as they are playing against each other to break records in same tournament.

World Cup 2015: AB makes history again

World Cup 2015, all teams have competed with at least three teams and results are not as expected. England and Pakistan are in the end of the tables. Australia and West Indies are in the middle of the table. India and New Zealand are among the best performing teams so far. In a recent match against West Indies, AB de Villiers again broke fastest 150 runs record. He broke fastest half century and century record against same team. Day is not far when AB will break fastest 200 record of Chris Gayle.

AB scored 162 runs in this match, the second highest for any South African batsman in World Cup. He scored his century in 52 balls, which is second fastest in World Cup. As a captain he scored 9 centuries, the most as a South African Captain. He is now among the six batsmen to score four centuries in World Cup. Only Sachin and Ponting are ahead of him. South Africa beat West Indies by 257 runs, the biggest in World Cup equaling India record against Bermuda.

South African team scored 408 runs, the second highest in World Cup. Jason Holder conceded 104 runs in ten overs, the most by any West Indies bowler. AB scored 76 runs against Holder, the most by any batsman against a bowler. Previous record was hold by MS Dhoni, when he scored 61 runs against Upul Chandana in Jaipur. Partnership between AB and Behardien was of 80 runs in just 20 balls with a run rate of 24, the best 50+ partnership ever.

In last 15 overs, 222 runs are scored by South Africa, the second most in an ODI. The most runs record is of 230 runs, which is also hold by South Africa against West Indies earlier this year. West Indies have now conceded 400+ runs three times in ODI innings, the most by any team. Sri Lanka and South Africa have conceded 400+ twice each. These were some of the records made in match between West Indies and South Africa. In last match, West Indies broke many records but in this match records were broken against them.