‘All are heroes, we wanted to be part of this history’

NEW DELHI: HS Prannoy was not required to play in the Thomas Cup final against Indonesia. His teammates sealed the tie by winning the first three matches in Bangkok on Sunday. India’s saviour in the previous two wins could savour this triumph from the sidelines. It was the 29-year-old who ensured India reached their first Thomas Cup final in 32 editions with wins in the deciding singles rubber, against Malaysia in the quarterfinal and Denmark in the semifinal. Excerpts from an interview:

How did you celebrate?

We didn’t do much, just went for dinner and then chilled for a while. We wanted to do something, but the 10 of us need to go somewhere, Goa maybe (laughs). We’ll see when we can do that with tournaments in between. Hopefully, soon.

You are the reason India reached the final.

Everyone is a hero. Everybody had to step in when needed, extraordinary effort from everyone. It was just that I was there in the last matches so I had to pull it off. Extremely proud of the way they played.

You’ve been part of Thomas Cup teams in the past. What was different?

Everything. It’s because of the team we had. A couple of seniors like (Kidambi) Srikanth and me with the youngsters; so, there was a lot of energy. Luckily, we didn’t have any negative vibe in the team. We had our bad days like (the loss to Chinese) Taipei (in the group stage) but the way these guys came back, credit goes to each one of us out there. Not just the guys who played, but the players who were supporting us, the support staff who were there for all of us the entire week. All the coaches were so pumped up. Everybody had the feeling that this is the chance because everybody in the support staff knew how we as a team were so strong and emotionally connected. The women’s (Uber Cup) team was there cheering for us; a big thanks to BAI; they changed their tickets for our final so that they can stay and support us.

Did you have the belief you could win the Thomas Cup previously?

Only this time around. See, (playing in) team event is something which we have to cultivate. We don’t have this in our blood, 90% of the time we play individual events and the mindset is different. Srikanth and I realised it much before the tournament that we need to step up, have conversations with the youngsters because they will take time to come to their normal self after a loss; it was very important we addressed these issues. Lakshya (Sen) couldn’t get three matches but look how he came back. That’s where the character came in, that’s where team talk comes in. We all were so sure Lakshya will pull off this match because the team talk was so positive that he was raring to go.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had brilliant wins.

Hats off to them! Chirag is always pumped. He’s one character I really love. He always expresses it out loud and clear. Post the (Chinese) Taipei loss he was so upset that they couldn’t give us a point. He straightaway says ‘we need to meet and talk’. That kind of an initiative comes from players like that. Things changed and see the way they played the last three matches, their body language and effort. Satwik is much silent but yesterday before the final huddle he said he wanted to talk. He spoke for a good five minutes. These are the things you want to see, listen and experience. When someone like Satwik talks you realise how involved everyone is. That just gives you the extra energy you need for team events.

How satisfied are you to have contributed to the team’s success?

A lot. I have never experienced this kind of a victory. I can’t express how happy I am. You dream of becoming Olympic or world champion. You never say you want to be a Thomas Cup champion, but it is always there inside you that yaar team event ek baar to

jeetna hai (must win at least once). We all had that in our mind because we wanted this not just for ourselves but for the country.