Force India’s Success: Was it because of The Machine, The Driver or a Rabbit?

Luck, as ever, plays a big part in sports. Last week, luck certainly charmed on Force India team driver Giancarlo Fisichella. And as the life lesson teaches, if you mix your efforts with the available good luck, you seldom can go wrong. Fisichella sure did mix them well during the weekend. Otherwise who would have ever thought that this veteran driver from Italy would finish as a front runner on the grid which is a parking space meant usually for the likes of Buttons, Raikonnens, Alonsos, Hamiltons, Massas and Barichellos before they take-off?

It is very easy to predict those cars that start from the last rows in F1. They invariably belonged to Force India. To be able to break that shackle and end up winning the pole position not only requires amazing talent but also abundance of good luck.

In Sports generally, players are known to be very superstitious and follow some rituals to bring in or posses the luck factor. Indian Cricket legend Sunny Gavaskar always used to ground his bat first before bringing his right foot into position, while taking guard. Australia’s former skipper Steve Waugh used to carry a red handkerchief in his left pocket, which was given to him by his late grandfather. Spain's Tennis Great Rafael Nadal is very particular when it comes to his water bottle courtside; every sit-down making sure it goes back to exactly the same spot or position each time, right down to the centimeter. Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic, a former Wimbledon champ, was a fan of the food routine, reportedly sitting at the same table at the same restaurant and ordering the same meal of fish soup, lamb and ice cream with chocolate sauce during one tournament. Ivanisevic also always tried to rise from his courtside chair after his opponent, if he served an ace he asked for the same ball again, if he won he then attempted to follow the same routine as closely as possible the following day and he didn’t like to stand on the court lines.

Superstitions or rituals are followed because of the success a player has had due to the belief in practicing those sometimes weird stuff. What happened last weekend with Fisichella was also weird.

"I hit a rabbit during morning practice and damaged the front wing," Fisichella said. "My mechanics said: 'In England, rabbits are good luck.' Maybe they're right! I didn't expect to be on pole position. We had a few problems and the car was better than expected. It's amazing, fantastic; I'm so happy about this."

Let’s hope that the bunny coming his way doesn’t become Fisichella’s routine from now on. Actually, it’s a much easier investment option for Dr. Vijay Mallya to set some bunnies on his driver’s way than to invest millions on technical and car up gradation. Isn’t it?

KP Breaks The Wall!

IPL T20 fever has started again with just another couple of days before the second edition of the most sought after cricket tournament gets under way. It’s funny that it is still addressed as Indian Premier League even though the tournament is moved to South Africa. As a Bangalorean, I will be supporting Bangalore Royal Challengers even though the team performed badly in the first edition. There are changes in the team this time with the maverick Kevin Pietersen being roped in as Captain. Rahul Dravid has lost captaincy following the team’s dismal performance during the last chapter. Ray Jennings has been appointed as Coach.

Enter Pietersen, a man who takes hard options and knows he's good. It makes him gloriously un-English. The task he is about to undertake with the Bangalore Royal Challengers just about sums him up.

Think about it for a moment. Pietersen is returning to a country where voluble sections of the crowd regard him as a traitor. He will be captaining two men - Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher - who probably have their own views on his decision to leave South Africa. He will be playing for Ray Jennings, a coach who revels in his straight-talking toughness and for an owner - the whisky, airline and F1 magnate Vijay Mallya - whose expectations of success are such that last year he sacked his chief executive mid-tournament. He sure is going the football way.

There's more. Pietersen’s first game will be up against Shane Warne, who used to regard him as a close friend but now thinks him "weird" and will do everything he possibly can to make him look a dummy. His second game is against Andrew Flintoff, the man who denies having anything to do with his downfall as England captain. There is no doubt that cricket followers in South Africa would want Pietersen to fail miserably.

With so much against him much before the start, Pietersen certainly has a tough road ahead. He is a tough bloke and quite capable of turning the tide to his favour and all we can hope is that he does that quickly and ensures he not only proves to Vijay Mallya but to ECB Selectors also. The success will do a world of good to him when he locks his horns against Aussies for The Ashes.

Good luck Kev.