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What's the story?
Premier Badminton League (PBL) witnessed one of the most closely-contested matches of the season as HS Prannoy of the Ahmedabad Smash Masters lost his first match of the season against Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk.
In case you didn't know...
Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk is a Thai badminton player who is currently ranked World No.15 in the BWF Men's Singles ranking. Saensomboonsuk was the first Thai player to win a men's singles title in a Super Series Premier tournament when he won the Denmark Open in 2016.
Haseena Sunil Kumar Prannoy, also known as HS Prannoy, is the current World No.10 on the BWF World Rankings.
The heart of the matter
Saturday night saw the Chennai Smashers take on Ahmedabad Smash Masters in the Chennai leg of the Premier Badminton League. In the fourth match of the tie, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk faced off against HS Prannoy. The Ahmedabad Smash Masters used the Trump match for this encounter and were leading 2-1 going into the tie.
The match started on a positive note for Chennai Smashers as Saensomboonsuk won the first game with a 15-10 scoreline. Prannoy bounced back with a 15-12 win to level the match with a game each. The final game was an intense affair as both the shuttlers went toe-to-toe and were tied at 14-14 each in the final game.
Saensomboonsuk clinched it in the end when he won the golden point with a 51-shot rally.
The match sparked off a reaction from top shuttlers on Twitter. English player Rajiv Ouseph responded with a funny picture as a response to the rally video.
Indian star Kidambi Srikanth, who plays for the Awadhe Warriors also called it the best rally of the season.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra, who is an Indian mixed doubles player responded to Srikanth's tweet and shared his thoughts.
HS Prannoy saw the fun side in his first loss and tweeted a reply to Srikanth.
What's next?
The Chennai Smashers next face the Bengaluru Blasters on 8th January and Ahmedabad Smash Masters will be up against the Mumbai Rockets on 9th January. Both the matches will take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai.
Author's take
The match between Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk and HS Prannoy was one of the most fiercely-contested matches in the PBL so far. The 51-shot rally coming at the end of the final game of the trump match was perhaps the perfect end to the encounter.
