NL Hafta

Samar Khan and Rahul Puri are back this week to bring you the latest from the sports world. The discussion begins with the Indian Premier League, where Samar observes that not tinkering much with the team has worked to the advantage of Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. “You don’t tinker with the team too much. Once you get it right, you play the same guys,” he says. The duo discusses the importance of bowling and how IPL is not only about explosive batting. Samar compares Royal Challengers Bangalore with Sunrisers Hyderabad, where good bowling by the Sunrisers helped them find the top spot. He says that RCB couldn’t qualify despite having a great batting line-up. Rahul comments: “What makes the difference is to be able to either control that batting with good line and length bowling or take wickets.” Rahul and Samar would like to bet on the Chennai Super Kings as they remain the favourites, but Kolkata Knight Riders might prove otherwise. Rahul says: “I think Dinesh Karthik who this season is out-doing Dhoni at finishing matches… He’s just being this guy who comes in and wins KKR matches through his batting.” Rahul is satisfied with the newly appointed Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, who has a proven track record. Samar says, “The one thing that also goes in favour of Emery is that he’s kind of a low-profile guy.” Rahul comments: “I think so much of the Arsenal conundrum is not necessarily the manager, it’s the board.” Rahul adds, “Arsenal needs some major surgery. And the fans too… I don’t think they can expect instant success. I think they might have to give in two or maybe three years to try get this right.” “That’s a long time in modern day football,” comments Samar. Rahul looks at the history of the Champions League, and observes that it has witnessed changes when it comes to expected winners of the trophy. He says: “When you look back at the season, maybe 10 years from now, you’d probably put your finger on a particular season, as a season where things have changed. You’d probably see the end of a bunch of eras. Barcelona, I think there was an end of an era there.” He expects even more changes in the next seasons, full of surprises and shake-ups. Samar observes that because of everybody being busy with the upcoming FIFA World Cup, we might witness a lot of player transfers between clubs. Rahul comments, “The World Cup will always throw up lots of new success but on the other hand it will throw up a bunch of failures.” He adds, “The World Cup will push up prices again and there’ll be a sort of wage inflation.” On the upcoming Champion League Finals to be played between Real Madrid and Liverpool, Samar thinks that it’s not going to be a high-goal scoring game. He says: “Both teams will be wary of the fact that whoever concedes the goal first is going to be on the backfoot big time!” Rahul adds: “Liverpool’s best chance is to get a goal in the opening 20-25 minutes.”