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The Indian mixed badminton team won the silver medal after going down to Malaysia 1-3 in the gold medal match at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG) in Birmingham.
The team looked off-color for most of the tie with seasoned players botching up their games.
The doubles pairings of Satiwksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand couldn't muster a win, something that dented the team's chances.
While PV Sindhu brought India back into the game with her stupendous gameplay, former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth looked off-color and error-prone to hand Malaysia the advantage, in the all-important match.
India made one change from their earlier contest - bringing in Srikanth instead of young gun Lakshya Sen.
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The gold medal match started with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty playing Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh. The Indians have played the Malaysians twice in the past and have ended up on the losing side on both occasions.
Things didn't change as far as the head-to-head record is concerned as Satiwiksairaj and Chirag lost their doubles encounter 21-18, 21-15 to the versatile Malaysians.
Both Chia and Soh engaged Satwik and Chirag in good rallies and triumphed by showing good reflexes to outfox the Indian duo.
Satwik and Chirag held the aces in the first game and it looked like it was going India's way when they had the lead at 18-15. However, the Malaysians responded in style with six straight points to seize the advantage.
The Indians couldn't get going in the second game and committed far more mistakes. They looked like they ran out of ideas and played into Malaysia's game plan. With five match points, Chia and Soh wasted no time in pocketing the first match.
Sindhu restores parity for India with good gameplay
PV Sindhu restored parity soon after when she beat Jin Wei Goh 22-20, 21-17. Sindhu was the dominant of the two and started dictating terms with powerful smashes and long rallies.
Goh did well to crawl back into the match at many instances with precision in her shots and placements. She drew level with Sindhu at 18-18 by winning six points on the trot in the first game.
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However, Sindhu upped the ante, with a splendid display of badminton, and thwarted all resistance from Goh to win the first game.
Sindhu opted for a different strategy in the second game by keeping the rallies short, crisp, and fast. She pounced on half chances at will and her immaculate placement skills made sure India drew level at 1-1.
Srikanth loses decisive singles to hand Malaysia the advantage in CWG gold medal contest
The onus was then on Kidambi Srikanth to give India a lead in this CWG 2022 gold medal tie. The former World No. 1, however, was error-prone and lost the decisive second singles match to Tze Yong Ng 19-21, 21-6, 16-21.
Srikanth started on a slow note and was playing catch up for most of the first game. He looked good at the nets but soon the Malaysian grew into the tie with good shots and fierce smashes.
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Srikanth looked off-color and a plethora of unforced errors and misjudgements didn't help him either. The Indian lost a close first game 19-21.
Srikanth came all guns blazing in the second game and took an early lead and built on it. He looked to be back in form as he was clinical in his finishes.
However, he was unable to withstand an assault from Ng in the third game and, combined with unforced errors, Srikanth seemed like he lost the plot. It was here that the gold medal match went out of grasp.
The rallies grew longer and Ng's punches were crisper, leaving Srikanth with a lot to ponder on.
In the fourth match of the evening, young players Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to Koong Le Tan and Muralitharan Thinnah 18-21, 17-21.
The young doubles pair, who are playing their first Commonwealth Games, were full of energy but lacked conviction when it mattered. Given the inexperience and the learning phase that both Gayatri and Treesa are in, it was only a matter of time before Malaysia won the CWG gold medal.
