Sameer Verma won the last point of a gripping match against the seasoned campaigner P. Kashyap with a jump smash and clinched a third win for Mumbai Rockets in the Vodafone PBL season 4 at `The Arena by SE TransStadia’ here on Saturday. The Rockets won the men’s doubles thereafter to score an impressive 5-0 win against the Chennai Smashers.
The Rockets had nominated Verma’s clash against the Smashers’ Kashyap as the Trump match and he did not let his team down and also justified his superior World ranking of 12 as against Kashyap’s 44.
Verma, 24, had won the Syed Modi International Championship defeating three Chinese players and an Indonesian and took the court here with a clean record of four wins in the ongoing league. He was the odds-on favourite to put it across against Kashyap, but was outwitted in the opening game by his experienced rival who kept the shuttle in play with deft placements.
The Smashers were delighted when Kashyap took the initiative and the first game at 15-12. But as events unfolded in the second game, the younger and fitter man began to gradually take control of the match. Both played a variety of strokes and many points were decided after a tussle at the net. Once he levelled the game scores, Verma grew in confidence and seemed better equipped to deal with his wily opponent.
The Rockets made a winning start though Anders Antonsen who won the first men’s singles against Rajiv Ouseph and the mixed doubles pair in Kim Gi Jung and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet who beat the Smashers Trump match pair of Chris and Gabby Adcock. Then the Smashers’ South Korean, Sung Ji Hyun scored a crushing win against the Rockets’ Anura Prabhudesai. Verma then, remained focussed to score his fifth win in as many matches and take Rockets to the top of the league table.
The results: Mumbai Rockets 5 bt Chennai Smashers 0: Anders Antonsen bt Rajiv Ouseph 15-14, 15-11; Pia Zebadiah Bernadet & Kim Gi Jung bt Chris Adcock and Gabby Adcock ( T ) 15-14, 15-14; Anura Prabhudesai lost to Sung Ji Hyun 7-15, 8-15; Sameer Verma ( T ) bt P. Kashyap 12-15, 15-13, 15-9; Kim Gi Jung & Lee Yong Dae bt Or Chin Chung & Sumeeth Reddy 15-8, 15-10 .
