More than the outcome of the ‘war’ between Chennai Smashers and Awadhe Warriors for a place in the final of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), it was the ‘battle’ involving P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal that held everyone’s interest at the Siri Fort Stadium and on television screens.
In just 27 minutes, Sindhu justified the expectations based on form and fitness. Even before the first shuttle was stroked, Sindhu showed the confidence by opting to play Trump against her more illustrious rival. No doubt, it was a grudge match, and Sindhu handled the pressure better to come out stronger.
For the record, Chennai won 4-1 and will take on Mumbai Rockets in the final. Rockets caused a sensation, taking an unsurpassable 3 to minus 1 lead after winning the two Trump contests. Sung Ji Hyun upstaged World and Olympic champion Carolina Marin, while H.S. Prannoy maintained his winning run beating Sameer Verma 11-8, 15-13 to seal the tie.
Saina, who said over the past week that she was only about “60 per cent fit” following her recovery from a knee surgery, showed no signs of any great discomfort. She moved well and often got into positions to execute some well-measured half-smashes and cross-courts.
The rallies — going up to 48, 32 or 28 strokes — were a true indication that Saina’s fitness did not have a big impact on the outcome. Even Sindhu felt that the players’ fitness was “not a factor” in the match-up.
Sindhu won the match’s longest rally — 48 strokes — to lead 7-5 immediately after the interval in the second game. After Saina produced an awe-inspiring cross-court smash to make it 8-9, Sindhu returned the compliment to keep her nose ahead.
Though Saina never led in the second game, she did threaten Sindhu’s dominance by taking three straight points to bridge the gap to 8-9. However, her rival’s two forehand cross-court returns settled the contest.
“Saina has been moving well and I don’t think her fitness was a factor. We both couldn’t take a single point easily. Knowing that she is so good at the net, I tried to keep her away from there. Luckily, the shuttle-speed was consistent and ‘drift’ was not an issue. I was confident of doing well and when the team wanted me to play the Trump match, I readily agreed,” said Sindhu.
After all, Sindhu’s match became a must-win encounter for Chennai since it trailed 1-2 before the fourth rubber.
On her part, Saina pointed to Sindhu’s fitness and said, “Of course, Sindhu has had a great 2016 and is very, very fit. I’ve just had two weeks on court. My movements were sluggish. Once I go back [to Bengaluru], I’ll be working a lot on it.”
Their mega-clash pushed into the background the straight-game victories of Sindhu’s teammate P. Kashyap over Wing Ki Vincent Wong and Awadhe Warriors’s K. Srikanth over Tommy Sugiarto.
In fact, there was a serious setback for Chennai when its previously undefeated mixed doubles pair of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock lost the opener to the higher-ranked Savitree Amitrapal and Bodin Isara.
The results (semifinals):
Chennai Smashers bt Awadhe Warriors 4-1 [Chris Adcock & Gabrielle Adcock lost to Savitree Amitrapal & Bodin Isara 11-9, 8-11, 5-11; P. Kashyap bt Wing Ki Vincent Wong 11-4, 11-6; Tommy Sugiarto lost to K. Srikanth 12-14, 7-11; (T) P. V. Sindhu bt Saina Nehwal 11-7, 11-8; Chris Adcock & Mads Pieler Kolding bt (T) V. Shem Goh & Markis Kido 11-3, 12-10].
Mumbai Rockets bt Hyderabad Hunters 3 to -1 (Sung Ji Hyun bt Carolina Marin (T) 6-11, 11-6, 11-5; H.S. Prannoy (T) bt Sameer Verma 11-8, 15-13).
