Cricket can't hold a candle to those rally thrills

Born in Bangalore, India, among the mangoes of his wealthy family's plantation, Santosh Chunchunguppe Shivashankar's interests should naturally have turned towards cricket, the national sport.

But the 31-year-old, better known as CS Santosh, is instead discovering the dangers of fesh-fesh as the first Indian to compete in the grueling Dakar Rally.

"I tried cricket, badminton, golf, tennis ... but I just couldn't stick to it. And then it was the motorbike, and that was it. For me it's destiny," Santosh said this week.