Praneeth diffuses Kashyap in PBL
World Championships bronze medallist Sai Praneeth of Bengaluru Raptors held his nerves to beat Parupalli Kashyap of the Mumbai Rockets in a nerve-wracking contest to help the defending champions remain in contention for the semifinals at the Premier Badminton League held at the GMC Balayogi SATS Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
In an absolute spectacle of a badminton match that saw two of India’s best men’s singles shuttlers locking horns, Raptors Trump Praneeth edged the
2014 Commonwealth Games champion 15-14, 1415, 15-14.
Kashyap came out firing right from the first point. Raining his smashes down relentlessly, the World No.
25 had Praneeth on the ropes initially as he surged to a big 8-2 lead. It was only after the break in the first game that Praneeth was able to find his aggression as he closed the gap to 9-11 in a remarkable turnaround.
Praneeth used body smashes to tie the score at
14-14 before the game point was decided on a challenge and it went in favour of the Bengaluru player.
High on confidence after making such a strong comeback in the first game, Praneeth kept his momentum going to race to
4-1 in the second game before soaring to 8-5. Kashyap smartly mixed it up after that to put the World No.11 Praneeth out of his comfort zone. His efforts were soon rewarded as the two were level on 1010 and then 13-13. Praneeth found his down-the-line smash to save a game point but soon saw Kashyap summoning his own attacking game to take the match to a decider.
The match reached its climax in the decider with both showing exceptional defence. With both refusing to break down, the highly exciting match reached a 7-7 tie. In a heartstopping finish to the match that had the crowd on the edge, the two remained on level terms till 14-14 in one of the most dramatic matches this season. An exhausted Praneeth pushed the shuttle to the backcourt on match point to seal the mind-blowing match.
The women’s singles was a clash of youth and experience. Mumbai’s Shriyanshi Pardeshi lost to World No.2 Tai Tzu Ying 158, 15-12 and remained unbeaten this season.