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Tie No. 14 of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) 2018 presents a match of contrasts as the Bengaluru Blasters meet the North Eastern Warriors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
The Blasters are in the second place in the points table while the North Eastern Warriors are languishing in the seventh spot in a competition of eight teams. The Bengaluru franchise has won both their matches so far and that too in emphatic fashion, and have thus thrown down the gauntlet at other teams.
In contrast, the North Eastern Warriors have failed to register a win in three outings so far and haven't looked like a contender. Suffice to say, they have a huge challenge on their hands tonight.
The Blasters' attack is spearheaded by the men's singles World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, who looks eager to carry on his irrepressible form from last season. The world champion hasn't put a foot wrong at the PBL 2018 and looks absolutely impossible to stop.
Their women's singles department too has been bolstered by the presence of the World No. 16 Kirsty Gilmour, who showed tremendous fighting spirit in her win over the Mumbai Rockets' World No. 11 Beiwen Zhang. The Scot too would be keen to repeat that performance against the 21st ranked Michelle Li tonight.
In the doubles section, Kim Sa Rang and N Sikki Reddy have formed a formidable pair and will aim to continue their winning streak. Mathias Boe and Kim too are a pretty dangerous team in men's doubles.
The North Eastern team, however, should get one men's singles win through their highest ranked player -- the World No. 11 Wang Tzu Wei. But they really have to work hard in the other matches against a team, that has appeared to be in destructive mode so far.
Here is all the information you need to know
Tournament name: Premier Badminton League Season 3
Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai
Date: Friday, January 5, 2018
Time: Bengaluru Blasters vs North Eastern Warriors at 7pm IST
Channel: Star Sports 1/Star Sports 1 HD
Livestream information: Star Sports Hotstar
The squads:
Bengaluru Blasters - Viktor Axelsen, Chong Wei Feng, Subhankar Dey, Kirsty Gilmour, Rituparna Das, Mathias Boe, Manu Attri, Kim Sa Rang, N Sikki Reddy, Sanjana Santosh.
North Eastern Warriors - Wang Tzu Wei, Ajay Jayaram, Pratul Joshi, Michelle Li, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, Kim Gi Jung, Chirag Shetty, Shin Baek Cheol, Prajakta Sawant, Sanyogita Ghorpade.
