PBL 2016 - Comeback Kashyap helps Hyderabad 'trump' Bengaluru

01/03/2016

Hyderabad Hunters seemed the better team on paper and they ended up the better on court today as well. Led by a come-back Kashyap, Hyderabad won both the trump matches to register a 3-2 win despite a dead-rubber upset victory by Bengaluru's Srikanth over marquee player Lee Chong Wei today in Mumbai.

Bengaluru started positively with Suo Di winning their first match against Hyderabad's Supanida Katethong 15-8, 15-11. However, Hyderabad came back with a bang with Carsten Mogensen and Markis Kido converting their trump call and taking them to a 2-1 lead in the overall points to put the pressure on the Bengaluru Topguns.

In the crucial third match, Bengaluru placed their trump bet on Sameer Verma who was pitted against P Kashyap of Hyderabad Hunters who was playing his first tournament after his injury lay-off.

Kashyap appeared hungry to shake off his injury woes and raced away to 5-1 and soon extended it to 8-2. Kashyap was making the most of this opportunity playing against his practice mate. Sameer, however, found his rhythm and capitalized on Kashyap's unforced errors to equalize at 14-14 from 5-11 at one point. But, the Tata Open Champion failed to convert his brilliant come-back by gifting the game away with a wayward smash.

Sameer continued his come-back into the second set to go up 7-1 by persistently putting pressure on Kashyap's right knee with some wonderful deceptive drop shots. He was sailing away with the game at 10-6, but Kashyap came back to equalize at 10-10 and quickly wrapped up the set at 15-13 to win his very first comeback match after the two month layoff. The win on Bengaluru's trump call took Hyderabad to an unassailable 3-0 lead in the overall tally.

With the tie already decided in favor of Hyderabad, J F Nielse/Ashwinin Ponnappa of Bengaluru won a consolation win against Markis Kido/Jwala Gutta 15-13, 15-13 to make it 1-3.

Kidambi Srikanth of Bengaluru faced off against Lee Chong Wei in the final encounter, which was a dead rubber, but it proved to be anything but that. The Malaysian zoomed away to a 4-0 lead in the first set, but Srikanth capitalized on Chong Wei's mistakes to take the lead at 8-7. Chong Wei appeared intent on re-taking the lead in the next point, but Kidambi played an exceptional rally to make a statement of intent - it began with a straight backhand flick that made Lee reach out for a weak return, which Kidambi pounced on to deliver a thundering smash right at Chong Wei's foot. He closed the game at 15-12.

In the second game, the Olympic silver medalist proved his class as he created a six-point cushion at 9-3 and wrapped up the set 15-6.

Srikanth shrugged off the second set loss and went on the offensive in the third. He brought Lee down to the court with a hard cross-court smash at 1-1 and raced away to 11-3 with some breath-taking smashes. Lee staged a short come-back to make it 7-12, but Srikanth held on to wrap the set at 15-7 to take Bengaluru to a creditable 2-3 loss.

Bengaluru Topguns vs Hyderabad Hunters 2-3

1) Women's Singles: Suo Di vs Supanida Katethong- 15-8, 15-11

2) Men's Doubles: Hoon Thien How/ Khim Wah Lim vs Carsten Mogensen/ Markis Kido* 15-13, 9-15, 14-15

3) Men's Singles: Sameer Verma* vs P Kashyap 14-15, 13-15

4) Mixed Doubles: J F Nielse/Ashwinin Ponnappa vs Markis Kido/Jwala Gutta 15-13, 15-13

5) Men's Singles: Kidambi Srikanth vs Lee Chong Wei 15-12, 6-15, 15-7.

(* signifies trump match)