Formula One: Reliability fears temper Mercedes win

March 17, 2014

Formula_OneMelbourne, Mar 17: Nico Rosberg said Mercedes would have to work hard to improve the reliability of their new F1 car despite his emphatic win in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

While Rosberg was dominant in his fully functioning W05, his pole-sitting team-mate Lewis Hamilton lasted only four laps before a misfiring cylinder ended his race.

World champion Sebastian Vettel was also an early retiree after power problems in his Red Bull, underlining this year`s unpredictability as teams grapple with new hybrid technology.

"Despite our success, we also know that there is still some work to do," said Rosberg, who streaked away from third on the grid for a wire-to-wire victory.

"We saw over the weekend that reliability is still a concern and it prevented us from having a strong two-car finish.

"We have two weeks to improve that. I am very much looking forward to (the next race in) Malaysia and I would love to race again tomorrow."

Red Bull`s Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from second place for violating fuel rules, in another illustration of the challenges facing teams this year.

But McLaren were rewarded for getting both their cars to the finish line, with debutant Kevin Magnussen classified second and Jenson Button third after Ricciardo`s disqualification.

"We know that reliability will be crucial to this long season and we will be working hard to improve the situation for the race in Malaysia," said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion and the pre-race favourite after a thrilling drive in qualifying, said Mercedes would learn from their "costly hiccup".

"Of course I`m disappointed with my own race and when I think about all the work that has gone on back at our factories, it`s tough to have a costly hiccup," he said.

"However we have achieved an incredible amount to get here, to be at the front and to be so competitive. We will bounce back and learn from this. There is a very long way to go this season."

Rosberg claimed his fourth grand prix win but with the sport in so much flux, he is far from raising hopes of emulating his father Keke`s 1982 world championship win.

However, Rosberg drew great encouragement from the performance of his "unbelievably quick" car, which finished nearly 25 seconds ahead of Ricciardo.

"I always dreamed of having such a strong Silver Arrow and now it seems we are there," he said.

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June 2,2020

Jun 2: Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy has spoken strongly against the killing if George Floyd in USA, and has now urged the ICC & all the other boards in the world to come together and fight the evil.

In a series of tweets Sammy wrote how the blacks have been suffering for a long time.

“For too long black people have suffered. I’m all the way in St Lucia and I’m frustrated If you see me as a teammate then you see #GeorgeFloyd Can you be part of the change by showing your support. #BlackLivesMatter,” Sammy wrote.

He also wrote, “@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind. This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u.”

“Right now if the cricket world not standing against the injustice against people of color after seeing that last video of that foot down the next of my brother you are also part of the problem.”

Earlier, West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle has said racism exists in cricket too, saying he gets the 'end of the stick' even within teams.

"Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own! I have travelled the globe and experience racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on," Gayle wrote in his Instagram story.

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March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen appealed to Indian citizens to stay home during the 21-day lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain coronavirus.

"Namaste India! I have heard that your situation is like ours, PM Modi has announced a nation-wide lockdown for 21 days. I request you to follow this instruction. We will fight coronavirus together and come out to this situation. Please stay at your home and stay safe, " he tweeted in Hindi.
At the end of the message, Pietersen gave credit to his "Hindi teacher" Shreevats Goswami, who is an Indian domestic cricketer.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the nationwide total lockdown will be in place for three weeks to combat the coronavirus menace.

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July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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