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The first day of the Premier Badminton League 2020 kicked off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai with the PV Sindhu-led Hyderabad Smashers going up against former champions Chennai Superstarz. In its fifth glorious edition, the PBL still manages to pack in a lot of exciting action with top shuttlers, world champions and Olympic medalists assembling from all over to take part in the 21-day gala affair.
Chennai Superstarz got off to a bombastic start against Hyderabad Hunters and simply dominated four out of the five matches today and got 5 points on the board whilst Hyderabad could only manage a lowly 2. The most interesting bit is that out of the five matches on the first day, three of them went into a nail-biting decider.
Opening the campaign from either side was the Mixed Doubles tie which saw Hyderabad Hunters send forth the duo of N.Sikki Reddy/Vladimir Ivanov while the Superstarz sent Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/J. Pugh. Nobody saw the thriller coming so early in the tie but the mixed doubles encounter soon escalated in grandeur with both teams really pushing each other to the extremes. After a sweeping start by Rankireddy and Pugh, Sikki Reddy and Ivanov stepped up their game to force the match into a deciding third game. Eventually, it was the Chennai side who came out on top 15-6, 13-15, 15-13.
With that, the second match of the day saw the Men's Singles where senior player Tommy Sugiarto led the charge for the Superstarz whilst the Hunters sent Syed Modi 2019 finalist, Sourabh Verma for the clash. Sugiarto was relentless as usual and Verma clamoured for points and failed on occasions one too many. In a swift 15-11, 15-10 demolition, the Chennai Superstarz were off to a 2-0 lead.
The third clash of the day was the trump match for the Chennai Superstarz and they used their youngest and most talented bet, Lakshya Sen to forward their cause. The Hunters banked on junior player, Priyanshu Rajawat in this tie. Both Sen and Rajawat fought tooth and nail in the match and, before anyone could know it, Rajawat had taken the second game after Lakshya had taken the first. With nail-biting points, both players proved that the future of Indian badminton will be in safe hands as Lakshya won the tie by a tiny margin. Sen brought the tie-winning 2 points in the trump match by winning 15-6, 13-15, 15-14.
The most-awaited encounter of the day saw Hyderabad captain and reigning World Champion, PV Sindhu take to the court against 16-year-old Gayatri Gopichand, who is the daughter of Sindhu's coach Pullela Gopichand. For Gayatri, this was a big moment as it was her debut PBL match. However, this was the trump match for the Hyderabad side and with Sindhu in it they were sure to score a win. Gayatri impressed in a few points but Sindhu obviously dominated the teenager and it was a smooth 15-5, 15-5 victory which gave 2 points to the Hyderabad Hunters.
In the final match of the day, we had the Men's Doubles clash which also became an unexpected thriller with gripping rallies and ruthless smashes being hurled against each team. The Hyderabad Hunters sent S. Vendy and B. Lane while it was an all-Indo pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and B.S. Reddy who took the court for the Superstarz. It was the Chennai team who had the last laugh of the day as they defeated Vendy and Lane 15-14, 11-15, 15-8 to register a triumphant win to mark their season-opening. With a comfortable 5-2 victory secure, the Superstarz sit on top of the rankings table currently.
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