PBL 3 Tie 8: Saina leads Warriors with second straight win

Star shuttler Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors withstood an intense encounter against world no. 21 Michelle Li before saving 6-15, 15-13, 15-14 to lead the tie with a 4-3 victory against North Eastern Warriors in the Premier Badminton League season 3 in Delhi on Saturday.

With the frenzy cheers from the spectators in massive numbers, Saina, who had played her first match at the league Saina boosted herself in the second game.

Trailing in the beginning with 0-5, Saina finally won couple of points by the break with huge gap of 2-8. Michelle hardly allowed Saina to bounce and wrapped the game with 15-6.

After switching the sides,  well knitted Saina came rebounded with the 3-1 lead before throwing herself to three unforced errors that led Michelle. Later, Saina managed to lead by the break with 8-7. With crowds eruption of loud sounds, Saina bettered her play with a deceptive drop shot and saved the game by pushing the match to the decider with 15-13.

Saina maintained her dominance in the third game with the huge lead of 6-1 and broke the break with five points advantage 8-3. Michelle surged her game and decreased the gap to trail with 8-9, later Saina survived some anxious moments but held her nerves to clinch the game with 15-13.

Juggernaut Kidambi Srikanth of Awadhe Warriors fought the hard battle against World No. 11 Wang Tzu Wei of North Eastern Warriors and lost the match with 15-10, 9-15, 6-15.

Starting with the powerful strokes, World No. 3 Srikanth headed the break with 8-4 lead. He continued his proceedings and grabbed the first game with 15-10 with an ease.Srikanth failed to get going in the second as he trailed 4-8 at the mid-game interval while Wang Tzu played some effortless shots to take the second game 15-9. He carried on with his good show to tame Srikanth 15-6 in the last game.

Men’s doubles pair Kim Gi Jung and Shin Baek Cheol of North Eastern Warriors emerged victorious in the Trump match beating Hendra Setiawan and Tang Chun of Awadhe with 15-10, 15-12

Team’s decision of Trump match was justified by mixed doubles duo Tang Chun Man and Christinna Pedersen of Awadhe Warriors after the hard battle with 15-14, 15-13  against Kim Gi Jung and Prajakta Sawant of North Eastern Warriors.

The opening game witnessed a gruelling battle with the score reading 4-4 before North Eastern pair Kim Gi Jung and Prajakta Sawant were leading 8-5 at the break. Tang Chun and Christinna gave the stunning comeback to level the terms at 8-8 after the break and it continued till 14-14. In the end, the game went in the favour of Tang and Christinna as they won it 15-14.

Second game went neck-to-neck till 5-5, before Tang Chun of Warriors turned on the gear and won couple of points to lead with two points by the break with 8-6. Extending their lead, Tang Chin and Christina eventually won the game with 15-13.

Huge upset was created when Ajay Jayaram lost to compatriot Parupalli Kashyap of Awadhe Warriors with 15-9, 15-12 in the first men’s singles match.

Starting with the lead 5-1 in the first game, Kashyap continued his stride with deceptive returns and led with five points by the half time. Ajay’s wrong baseline judgement favoured Kashyap to lead with 9-3. With the jump smashes and cross court hits, Kashyap took the game with 15-9.

Jayaram found himself cornered while he was struggling to reach World No. 54 Kashyap, who was with 4-0 lead in the second game. After Jayaram’s short comeback, Kashyap annihilated with 8-4 by the half time, and took the game out of his experience with 15-12, though Jayaram picked the pace.