NL Hafta

This week on Just Sports, Samar Khan and Rahul Puri discuss the impending 2018 UEFA Champions League final and the IPL. The duo starts off by talking about Liverpool’s unexpected ascent to the finals. Samar disagrees with the general opinion on how Liverpool got there - “I don’t think it was a favourable draw…. they played good football. You don’t reach the finals because you’re lucky, you reach the finals because you deserve to.” Although Rahul admits Liverpool had a relatively easier group this time, he says, “There are no pushovers in the Champions League anymore.” They go on to discuss what changed about the Liverpool team this year, both asserting that with the average age of the team being 18, the younger crowd has definitely had an effect on the performance of the team as a whole. “Liverpool is building up to an elite force in Europe,” says Rahul, when discussing that Liverpool does certainly stand a chance against Real Madrid after having emerged from being the underdogs in the League. They end by both agreeing it will be a defensive final, while also lamenting the sorry state of refereeing in world football. Moving on to the IPL, Samar begins on a sceptical note - “the big bucks have always been kind of a curse to people in the IPL,” and they both agree that big money does not necessarily guarantee good results.” They go on to try and decipher why the cricketers who are being paid enormous amounts are the ones who are not performing well on the field - like Ben Stokes on the Rajasthan team “who doesn’t look like he has any confidence,” says Rahul. They also appreciate Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant for their exceptional performance. The conversation moves forward as Samar and Rahul both express their confusion over why the Indian Board has set the ultimatum of a year-and-a-half before they start playing day and night cricket - to which the Australian Board has written back saying the Indian team is afraid that the night-time conditions won’t be favourable for their players. Samar brings the discussion to a close by calling out the Indian Board on its ignorance, “Indian Board has always tried to be the bully.” As for the Champions League, Samar admits he expected a “fairytale send-off” for Wenger, and while that is true, Rahul opines “it was a fair reflection of where Arsenal are - good but not great.”