With Saina Nehwal opting out of her first match against PV Sindhu on the opening day of the third edition of Premier Badminton League, fans had to wait till this Friday for the first major all-Indian affair.
When the line-up for the tie between Ahmedabad Smash Masters and Hyderabad Hunters was announced, the disappointment of not watching Tai Tzu Ying take on Carolina Marin was allayed by the fact that HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth, the second and third best Indian men’s singles stars, would face each other.
The fact that Prannoy was nominated as the trump player for the night added to the excitement. It promised to be a cracking contest between two men who know each other’s game inside out.
As it turned out, Prannoy, the man in form, outclassed his academy mate in straight games 15-10, 15-8, in a match that summed up how far he has come in a watershed year.
Sluggish start
It started all too tight. Prannoy came out attacking, as he always does, with the ferocity of his smashes only matched the volume of his “come on!” and the intent of his fist pumps.
Sai, on the other hand, was going about his business in a calm manner, showing little emotion when he actually headed in to the mid game interval with a one-point lead. One began to wonder if Prannoy was too pumped for the occasion, knowing that either he could win the tie for his side or earn a negative point.
“I always knew I was going to play Sai in this match, but the call to make it the trump match was last minute,” Prannoy told The Field. “I came out a little tight, and I was feeling sluggish. I wasn’t 100%. I was moving well. I tried to pump myself up in the beginning of the first game to make up for that.”
And when they came back from the break, a calmer Prannoy ended up winning 8 of the last 10 points in the first game, aided by an erratic Sai and sealed the deal at 15-10. It was the first sign of the Prannoy, version 2017, taking center stage.
The second game would be a much tighter affair to start with. Sai started finding good angles from his drop shots but couldn’t stem the flow of errors.
Prannoy, whose movement was not at its best to begin the match, started finding his groove. With Sai serving at 7-9, the two would play out the rally of the day. 36 shots of high quality badminton, with both players diving to their right, lunging at full stretch, hitting the overhead forehand with purpose. But once Prannoy won that point and a 20-plus shot rally immediately after, the game was as good as over.
“Things started going the way I wanted in the second game. Couple of long rallies [9-7 and 10-7] where I stayed patient and didn’t go for the risky shots and just focused on keeping the shuttle in play, helped me close out the match,” Prannoy said after the win, that he thought was closer than it looked from the outside.
The transformation
When asked if he thought the game would turn out be as easy as it did, Prannoy laughed it off.
“I usually don’t beat him in training. We don’t keep a head to head but I lose more often than I win against Sai and Srikanth,” Prannoy said with a smile. “But it’s different on the court during tournaments, especially in a team event like PBL where there is more responsibility to win a point.”
In many ways, that long rally in the second game summed up Prannoy’s year. Usually admired for his flamboyance and a brutal backhand smash that very few Indian players can boast of, the Kerala lad has added much-needed stability to his game.
“It’s not so much about my new game, it’s more about the transformation in terms of staying patient,” said Prannoy. “It’s how Viktor Axelsen has started keeping more shuttles on the court in his games consistently. That’s what it takes to stay at a top level. That consistency was perhaps missing in my game in the past and this year it has been a *little bit* better,” he said.
His feeble attempt at modesty notwithstanding, 2017 was the year that Prannoy came into his own. It began with seven wins in seven matches in the last edition of PBL for his previous franchise, Mumbai Rockets. And it’s ended with two wins out of two for his new team.
“It’s been a good year. I have not thought too much about [nine-match unbeaten streak] to be very honest, I am just happy to take one match at a time because I know my team expects a point from me every time I go out to play. In a team event, that’s all my focus is on. And I hope 2018 is better than this,” said Prannoy.
Sandwiched between the nine wins in PBL was a US Open title, couple of wins against Lee Chong Wei, a maiden Superseries semi-final appearance, a first National Championship title at the expense of Srikanth, and a career-best ranking. Should he stay fit and keep the consistency going, 2018 promises much more for Prannoy. And that’s exciting for Indian badminton.
