Hat-trick and hat-trick for Hamilton in Canada

Formula 1 moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada on the second weekend of June, where Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hosted the seventh Grand Prix of the season.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) with 2 race wins this season, sought to move close to Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) who sat at the top of the table with a 25-point advantage with 3 race wins.

The Canadian Grand Prix has always been a happy hunting ground for Hamilton, having won 5 races in the past years, including the last 2 years. 

But even by those standards, this was a dream Sunday for the British driver. He went on to win his third consecutive one, thus completing a hat-trick in cricketing parlance.  

The sport of F1 has a very different definition for hat-trick though, which includes pole position, race win and fastest lap. Hamilton managed to secure this hat-trick as well.

Our guest writer and F1 expert Kavish Anand puts it succinctly, "While Hamilton's comeback drive at Monaco was about supreme race management and tyre strategy, Vettel's drive at Montreal was about sheer courage and determination. Who goes all in on the last 3 laps to get 2 more points and risk it all?

Vettel did just that when he overtook the 2 fast Force India's of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez . While the move on Perez was routine, the move on Ocon was probably the move of the race (barringr the Flying Dutchman eccentric start). This move showed how brave a driver Vettel was. 


As he himself pointed out later, the move involved significant risk and boy did those pay off. Had he got 1 more lap, maybe just maybe he would have taken the podium all by his sheer will"

The overtakes have to be seen to be believed. The video shows the overtakes (Lap 66, Ocon) and (Lap 69, Perez). 



To admire the genius better, watch the last maneuver once more.



Kavish says, "Hamilton and the sliver arrows may have landed a blow to Ferrari (that's what Hamilton said) but make no mistake; the prancing horses are going nowhere and going nowhere is the man on whom the blow landed the most severely : Sebastian Vettel."

As a result of his heroics in the end, Vettel hangs on to his lead at the top of the table, but precariously. He is just 12 points abreast of Hamilton, who is set to ensure this goes down to the wire. 

At Azerbaijan (the next Grand Prix) which promises to be a fast-paced cracker, Vettel would come back harder than ever. With all his experience, Lewis knows it. Or has he got a bit carried away with this emotional win (at Montreal). The sight of him having having Ayrton Senna helmet was an emotional moment.

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, we are in  for some pulsating action! Keep watching this space.

A trophy of champions indeed!

What a sea of fortunes this last fortnight has been!

Before it began, this edition of Champions Trophy had been advertised by Star Sports as 'Champions ka World Cup'. An apt description, considering the fact that only the top 8 teams as per ICC rankings made the cut. This meant a former giant West Indies missing out. This is a team that as recently as March last year, had won the World T20 in a thrilling finish with 4 sixes on as many balls in a dramatic final at the Wankhede.

This augurs well for the game, that there is enough competition to edge out such high-quality teams. The event was being held in the British Isles, just like the previous (2013) edition.

And as soon as the event began, one performer stood out for consistency and impact. It was the ever-fickle English weather. Rain played a part in almost all matches in the first week, leading to wash-outs and overs being truncated.

As a result, after 6 days and 6 games, we had 2 wash-outs with points shared, and the other ones won by 96 runs, 124 runs, 87 runs and 8 wickets. The margins clearly bring out how one-sided these games were. The tournament seemed destined to be a boring, rain-affected affair after a week. But, then Pakistan sprang to life, and so too, did the tournament.

They seemed over and out after a deflating loss to arch-rivals India by 124 runs where poor batting, pedestrian bowling and club-level fielding gave the impression that they didn't stand a chance in this event.

But, then in a must-win game against South Africa, they raised their game to another level altogether. The Proteas who had played a dominant game against Sri Lanka in their opener, were stunned. Pakistan winning by 19 runs in a rain-truncated match.

This game started a string of surprises. Sri Lanka were up next in a must-win against defending champions India, and they also produced an inspired performance, putting aside their poor form to chase down 322 convincingly.

Bangladesh then completed a hat-trick of Asian surprises by pulling off a huge upset against New Zealand. Down 33/4, they produced pure magic to chase down 266, eliminating the Kiwis from the tournament.

These upsets suddenly brought thrill and energy back, and jolted a sleeping tournament out of slumber. All of a sudden, the last few matches (Aus v Eng, Ind v SA and Pak v SL) became virtual quarter-finals and the audiences certainly loved every bit of it.

England continued their consistent dominance and steam-rolled Australia, who returned home winless. India held their nerves to get the better of a choking and nervous South Africa with ease. And Pakistan played like only Pakistan can. Stop, start, race, stutter, stop, start. A less than convincing performance, with few glimpses of brilliance took them through to the semi-finals.

Their sudden rise after the crushing loss in the first game deserves an article in itself. Refer to this great piece on Pakistan's resurgence. http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-champions-trophy-2017/content/story/1103610.html

And so we had our semi-finalists in place. England, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The former two were pre-tournament favorites, while the latter two were teams that  even in your wildest dreams, you wouldn't have expected would make it this far.

England still looked the favorite at this stage, but Pakistan's exuberant run was far from over. They put in another brilliant day at the field, and England were left in the cold once more on the global stage. India ended Bangladesh's run with a clinical win in the other semi-final, without as much as breaking a sweat.

This boils down to an India-Pakistan final, the mother of all battles, may the best team win!

Nadal cruises to his La Decima

Paris witnessed history today as Stade de Roland Garros saw its most famous athlete win the French Open for a record 10th time.

Rafael Nadal had finally accomplished his La Decima (that's how you refer to the tenth in Spain, the county that Nadal belongs to). 

The organizers were set for it and had put together a presentation ceremony themed on the tenth win. The stage had a big logo showing 10 alongside the Roland Garros logo, while there were banners in the crowd saying "10 RG" and "Bravo Rafa".

The match itself ended up being a side note in the event, as it was very much one-sided. His Swiss opponent Stanislas Wawrinka looked listless against a Nadal onslaught, and wasn't up to the mark. He didn't show any of the spark that had helped him get the better of Nadal in their last Grand Slam final together, 2014 Australian Open.

Wawrinka looked tight from the start, probably a combination of being overwhelmed by the occasion and being exhausted from having spent 15 hours on the court in the last 2 weeks, which included a grueling 5-set win over Andy Murray. Nadal had spent 5 hours lesser, having dropped just 29 games on way to an impressive run to the final, which saw him drop no sets.

Nadal started applying pressure right from the start, and the 4th game (Stan's serve) saw many balls sent long from both players, and Rafa looked close to breaking. The game saw as many as 6 deuces, but the Swiss managed to just about hold his serve. Rafa was in brilliant touch both physically and mentally, which he displayed in the 5th game, when serving on the game, he saw Wawrinka move to the side of the court from the corner of his eye, and served down the line to close the game.

The relentless pressure helped him break Wawrinka in the 6th game and again in the 8th game. Takes first set 6-2!

The second set saw Wawrinka becoming more aggressive. He strives to open up the court more, make more angles for Nadal, approaches the net often for serve and volley (where he manages a remarkable 100% points won on net approaches). He does show glimpses of his aggressive win on this court 2 years ago in the final against Djokovic where he had approached the net and volleyed to good effect.

The image effectively sums up Wawrinka's day on Sunday. Frustrating!

However, today the opponent was on a different plan altogether, and Nadal broke up once to take the second set 6-3. The third set was a formality as Nadal easily clinched it 6-1.

When Wawrinka hit it into the net on match point, Nadal collapsed to the ground in joy where he stayed for a while. He rose, totally overwhelmed, and with tears of joy in his eyes, as he ran to accept his opponent's greetings. His dream had been accomplished! History had been made!

What followed was a very emotional Nadal watching his 10 title wins being shown on the big screen, an image that will stay in the hearts of all tennis fans and certainly in those of Rafa fans for some time to come. Relive all those 10 here :

10 Roland-Garros Titles
10 Unforgettable Moments
1 Champion#RG17 pic.twitter.com/e7xfGgl4qI

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 12, 2017

The way he cuddled the trophy showed the world how much this means for him, after career threatening injuries, loss of form, and the slow and painful return to the top level. It had been 3 long years of wait since his last win here in 2014, his last Grand Slam!

This was a time when even his biggest fans had started doubting if he could ever return to his old form. But he showed us all that you don't count Rafa out, never ever. Vamos!