India Open 2018, Second Round: Kidambi Srikanth vs Iskandar Zulkarnain, Live Match Updates

Iskandar wins 21-19, 21-17

Updated: 01 February 2018 20:57 IST - Published: 01 February 2018 15:02 IST

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THAT'S A HUGE UPSET!!!!!

To be pretty honest, Srikanth looked nowhere near the player who won four Superseries titles last season! That is pretty disappointing!

Srikanth saved one match point but sent the shuttle wide on the second one as he attempted a down-the-line smash.

Iskandar wins 21-19, 21-17

A relentless Iskandar has reached MATCH POINTS!

20-16

EXCELLENT DEFENCE FROM ISKANDAR!!!!

Any other shuttler would have conceded the point to Srikanth but his stubborn defence takes the point away from the Indian.

18-16

And it's 16-16

Tense times!

Roar in the stadium as Srikanth finds his attacking game to go up to 16-14

Finally some aggression from his racquet!

Srikanth makes it 13-13

He has not been able to keep his game error-free for a long time.

Time is running out for the Indian star!

He trails 10-13

It's 11-10 to Iskandar at the mid-game break.

The pace of this game has picked up!

Srikanth barely ahead at 10-9

Lots of chants for Srikanth at the stadium!

But fine play from Zulkarnain sees him level matters at 8-8

It's 8-5 for the India No. 1

Lots of cat-and-mouse chases going on but Srikanth still has his nose in front.

6-4

A lot more sharpness from the India No. 1 in this game

He leads 4-2

Second game

Srikanth opens up a 2-1 lead

But Iskandar takes the first game, anyway.

21-19

Srikanth has now opted to go for deft touches instead of power play. It has helped him save THREE GAME POINTS.

19-20

Iskandar now has a host of game points.

16-20

But once more errors have returned to haunt Srikanth!

He is now lagging behind at 15-18

Not much to choose between the two at the moment!

15-15

And it is 13-13

Finally Srikanth is playing error-free.!!

With a great run of points, he has made it 12-12

Srikanth lacking his usual sharpness in the initial stages....continues to miss the smashes...has let his opponent go up to 12-9

He rushes to grab a great point and makes it 11-8 going into the mid-game interval.

Zulkarnain is playing fast and surprising Srikanth with his change of direction.

Up 9-6

But the India No. 1 can't keep errors at bay..misses a couple of smashes and now is at 6-8

And we are ALL LEVEL!!!!

6-6

Big smashes and Srikanth now trails 5-6

The World No. 3 is finally showing some fire after a slow start.

Trails 3-6

The lower ranked player is up 5-1

And he makes it 3-1

Zulkarnain has made a fast start and he is up 2-1

We are underway!

The former champion is looking to reach the quarter-finals.

Good evening! The players are on court.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Sportskeeda liveblog of the 2018 India Open second round. Kidambi Srikanth is the second seed at this tournament and he will look to confirm a quarter-final berth. Srikanth won this event in 2015 and is a big favourite this time as well, especially after his monumental efforts last year when he got to grab four Superseries titles.

The third ranked Srikanth's opponent is placed at 85th in the world. The Indian leads their head-to-head record 2-1 with Srikanth winning their last encounter in straight games at the Syed Modi International in 2016.

Zulkarnain is a qualifier at the 2018 India Open but he showed tremendous conviction in his game to upset the 39th ranked Emil Holst. Srikanth too had a straight-game win in his first round but he needs to be careful against the giant-killer Zulkarnain.