The sum of great parts
Everything fell into place for India to excel as a team in their landmark Thomas Cup success
NEW DELHI: In the Thomas Cup last year (postponed from 2020 due to Covid), India lost in the quarter-finals. The three editions earlier, they made a group stage exit. In 2012, India didn’t even qualify for the biennial event.
Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen had played earlier. So what was it about the team in Bangkok that spurred India to their maiden triumph in 32 editions? A look at the factors that helped India win five of their six ties to be crowned champions.
Double trouble
Possibly the single biggest reason for India’s success was the world class pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Traditionally strong in singles, India never had a doubles pair to take on the world’s best till this pair, seasoned by having pulled off magnificent wins going into this team contest. Their only loss came against Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei, the pair they beat in the group stages of the Tokyo Olympics. Victory of the world No 8 in the final stood out—they beat one half of the world No 1 and 2 pairs. It gave India a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five tie.
“Earlier we used to totally depend on our singles players but we now have a formidable doubles pair in Satwik and Chirag. Every pressure match, they pulled it off. A lot of credit to them,” said selector and team manager, U Vimal Kumar.
Squad depth
India have had good singles players, but never three of great quality who could pull off wins against the world’s best. In world No 9 Lakshya Sen and No 11 Kidambi Srikanth (former world No 1), India had players who had beaten the likes of Olympic champion and world No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. HS Prannoy is only world No 23 but has been ranked No 8 and consistently beat top-5 players like Chinese greats Lin Dan and Chen Long.
Form factor
India’s Thomas Cup win was no flash in the pan. They came out victorious as a collective in Thailand, but the heroes of the victory have been playing brilliantly over the past few months. Sen, for example, has emerged India’s best player this year, reaching three successive finals. He won the India Open in New Delhi in January and lost the German Open in March; he became only the fifth Indian to reach the All England final where he lost to Axelsen. All this came after a bronze at the world championships in December.
Srikanth too had an excellent run, especially after becoming the first Indian male to reach the world championships final. He was the favourite at the India Open in New Delhi before Covid sidelined him.
He returned with strong performances at the Swiss Open and Korea Open, where he reached the semis.
HS Prannoy was the only Indian to be selected for the Thomas Cup on performances and not on the basis of ranking after reaching the Swiss Open final in Basel. “The team, even the bench, has been in good form for 4- 6 months. They believed in it and showed good team spirit. Our players overall had been playing better than their opponents, in both singles and doubles,” said 2014 CWG champion Parupalli Kashyap, who was in constant touch with teammates in Bangkok.
“All these things came together for India. Form is such an important thing. Last time in Aarhus after a break suddenly you had several tournaments on the trot, lined up due to the Covid second wave. You don’t know anyone’s form, you don’t know who is playing how. Our same players then were not in great form then.”
Team bonding
As seniors, Srikanth and Prannoy took it upon themselves to talk to the juniors and make them feel comfortable so that they can express themselves. Badminton being an individual sport, players keep to themselves or bond only with close friends. Team events like Thomas, Uber and Sudirman Cups are rare occasions when they get to play as a unit, but that team culture doesn’t last.
Prannoy explained how the players changed all that. “This is not something we are used to. There was doubt whether we will be able to pull off something like this. I thought that needs to be changed at some point and last night we did. Now everyone believes we can do it. That’s very important for the next generation which will play the next Thomas or Sudirman Cup or Commonwealth Games. It’s very important to have that belief.”