Mumbai Rockets, not so ideally placed at the bottom of the eight-team heap, sprang to life like a phoenix against host Awadhe Warriors in the Vodafone Premier Badminton League here on Thursday.
If one thought that the clash between the team at the top of the table, as Awadhe Warriors led with 12 points, and the one at the bottom could be one-sided, one was not wrong.
However, it was Mumbai that made it one-sided with a vibrant start that stunned the home fans who had assembled in strength, basically to see Saina Nehwal in action.
It was left to the World Championship bronze medallist and the former World No. 1 to revive the fortunes of the team, which had gone into the negative after losing the opening mixed doubles match.
The fact that P. Kashyap did not take the court and the inexperienced Harshit Aggarwal took his place against the crafty Sameer Verma saw Awadhe lose further ground.
With cricketer Suresh Raina pepping up the Awadhe team and the crowd acknowledging him with a big cheer, the stage was set for Saina to show her class. And she did not disappoint, pulling off a great win after bouncing back from being a game down.
The results:Mumbai Rockets leads Awadhe Warriors 2-0 (Gabriela Stoeva & Lee Yong Dae bt (T) Christinna Pedersen & Tang Chun Man 15-10, 14-15, 15-7; Sameer Verma bt Harshit Aggarwal 15-6, 15-14; Beiwen Zhang lost to Saina Nehwal 15-8,10-15, 13-15) .
