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Premier Badminton League season 4 was a treat to watch. Bengaluru Raptors came out on top in the end deservedly, with Awadhe Warriors, Hyderabad Hunters, and Mumbai Rockets giving their all in a futile attempt to stop them from securing the title.
Pune 7 Aces enjoyed a good debut season in which they narrowly missed out on making it to the knockout stages. Chennai Smashers and Ahmedabad Smash Masters had an average season, while both Delhi Dashers and North Eastern Warriors had a season to forget.
While the first leg of the league stage witnessed a lot of favorites getting stunned by young aces, normality was restored from the second leg with Kidambi Srikanth going unbeaten the whole season. PV Sindhu, Victor Axelsen, Saina Nehwal, Sameer Verma, Son Wan Ho, Carolina Marin, etc. found themselves on the wrong side of upsets.
Let's look at the 5 best stand-out performances from the recently concluded season.
#1 Sameer Verma VS Bengaluru Raptors (Final)
Bengaluru Raptors were leading 3-2 and needed just a solitary victory to win the title while Mumbai Rockets needed to win both of their matches to become champions.
In the first game, 4 unforced errors from Sameer Verma meant that his opponent B Sai Praneeth led 8-1 at the break and eventually won the first game 15-7. Verma determined to prove his mettle led 6-4 in the second game but the experienced Praneeth took a lead of 8-7 at the break. Verma clawed back in the match tiring out Praneeth physically and mentally using long rallies and powerful smashes and won the second game 15-12.
In the decider, Sameer led 5-3 against a tired-looking Sai Praneeth and won 10 consecutive points to win the match and give the Rockets a chance to win the PBL Season 4 title.
#2 Beiwen Zhang VS Hyderabad Hunters (Hyderabad Leg)
PV Sindhu had a stellar 2018 in which she won a silver medal at the 2018 CWG games in women's singles and also became the first Indian to win BWF World Tour finals.
World No.12 Beiwen Zhang had her task cut out as she had to face the in-form Sindhu in front of an energetic home crowd. Sindhu started well taking a 6-3 lead but the American clawed her way back into the game as the score read 12-12 and from there, Zhang dominated winning the first game 15-13.
A long 2018 season for Sindhu might have tired her out, and it showed. A lot of unforced errors from the Indian gifted the second game to Zhang, who won the match 15-13, 15-8 helping Awadhe Warriors defeat Hyderabad Hunters 4-1 on the night.
#3 Rituparna Das VS Ahmedabad Smash Masters (Mumbai Leg)
North East Warriors were already trailing 3-(-1) till it was Rituparna Das's turn to take center-stage. Das was handed a monumental task of facing Kirsty Gilmour, ranked 32 places above her in the BWF rankings.
Contrary to expectations, World #28 Gilmour was not even allowed to dictate proceedings as the 22-year old swooped both the games in her favor winning the match 15-8, 15-9. World #60 Das beating the Scottish ace, who won a bronze medal at the 2018 Common Wealth Games, is one of the biggest positives for Indian badminton from this season of Premier Badminton League.
Also, Das would have never played in the match if it were not for Saina Nehwal carrying an injury.
#4 B Sai Praneeth VS Mumbai Rockets (Bengaluru Leg)
Bengaluru Raptors defeated Mumbai Rockets emphatically in front of an electric home crowd and most of the credit should go to B Sai Praneeth who defeated Sameer Verma, ranked 10 places above him in the BWF rankings.
The Rockets decided to activate their trump on Verma's match and it looked like a correct decision when the 24-year old won the first game 15-12. The 2018 Swiss Open winner looked in control of proceedings but things changed as the 26-year old Praneeth destroyed Verma 15-5 in the second game.
The decider was an epitome of nail-biter which was just edged by Praneeth who won 15-13 helping his side win 5-0 against the Mumbai-based team.
#5 Shreyanshi Pardeshi VS Delhi Dashers (Mumbai Leg)
A look at the squad put together by Mumbai Rockets would make one think that they are short on an experienced women's singles player with World #117 Anura Prabhudesai and World #201 Shreyanshi Pardeshi being the only candidates for the role.
It was Shreyanshi Pardeshi who got the nod ahead of the talented 19-year old Prabhudesai to face World #32 Evgeniya Kosetskaya.
The 20-year-old lost the first game 12-15 and was seen struggling on the court mainly due to the stark difference in the height of the players. But, the young Indian ace came back in the second game with a changed strategy and bagged it 15-8. The decider was very similar to the second game as the Russian was defeated 15-10 in the last game.
Pardeshi pulled the biggest shock of PBL by defeating a player ranked 169 places above her in the BWF rankings.
