4 min readUpdated: Aug 13, 2026 08:49 PM IST
His childhood coach Uday Pawar had this honest conversation with Chirag Shetty about Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, which he recalls in pristine Bambaiyya Hindi. “I told him, ‘Jab tera game baraabar nai chaltaa tha, Satwik terko carry kiya.’ So now it’s Chirag’s turn to take the bulk of the responsibility,” Pawar says. On Chirag’s poor form days, Satwik had salvaged rallies. Now it was the Mumbaikar’s turn.
The Satwik shoulder, worn down from overuse in an attacking, non-negotiable game, is dicey, and has been since a 2018 tear. It will eventually need surgery, but has managed to deliver India two World Championship and Thomas Cup medals across 2022 and 2025-26, kept together by a team of physios. Satwik has played through pain, and the bond has only strengthened as Chirag watched with empathy.
Ahead of the Delhi Worlds, Chirag has trained for the extra responsibility. “He understood he has to get fitter and strong enough to take on the bigger attacking role, so that’s what he’s been doing,” Pawar says. Satwik is terrific even at half tilt, though he will now have to create openings and play a bit of the mixed-doubles game. “Catch at the net at the first opportunity,” Pawar adds.
File image of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty during the India Open. (PHOTO: BWF)
It’s not ideal. It works perfectly when both go on the attack. A big hall, if it plays slow, can open up the court and give opponents a toe-hold, while shorter, snappy exchanges in drifty conditions might suit the duo better. It’s how they won Singapore, and arguably their last Worlds medal. But at a home Worlds, Chirag is ready for the heavy lifting.
The Chirag smash tends to get forgotten only because it sits second behind Satwik’s, marginally, and unglamorously. When Yonex tested them in the lab, Satwik unleashed the hardest smash ever recorded, at 565 kph; his in-match best was 500 kph. What got missed is that Chirag, though his own best isn’t celebrated or certified the same way, had the second-hardest smash in the world. He was just as likely to track back and send down a zinger when opponents were already reeling from the Satwik barrage.
Chirag now needs to wear the “main character energy” the internet keeps talking about: break out of the net-manning role, and remember he can unleash a smash kill as terrifying as Satwik’s.
MR Arjun, India’s No. 2 men’s doubles player and Chirag’s first partner, from when the taller man held smashing duties from the back, once described how Chirag’s smash, though a shade tamer than Satwik’s, was a tornado of its own. “Chirag’s smash was always out there. And though it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from a huge body build, it has excellent depth and angles, much better depth in fact,” Arjun said.
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It came down to Chirag’s long levers in a lanky frame, one that has bulked up in recent years. “You can say Chirag has extra-long arms. I’ve never seen him generating power in a smash. It’s instead a quick-snap action that adds a zing to his shot, which comes from a super-flexible shoulder and wrist. He doesn’t go for a full-blooded smash outright, he starts with stick-smashes. But it plays an important role, because once they get into an attacking groove, you just can’t score off them.
Even if Satwik is playing half-smashes, opponents dread that Chirag will catch the next one,” Arjun said. Chirag can bury them properly, too.
Coach Tan had been concerned, but the reliance on Satwik’s shoulder for the smash has been gradually reducing since 2024. Chirag officially picking up the tab makes things interesting, though the pair will always need Satwik at his strongest to contend for the biggest titles. His reverse slice on the receive, and his flick lift to the back corner, remain shots that confound because nobody expects them. It may be a good chance for Satwik to sharpen the backhand snap at the net with quicker feet, while Chirag deploys the cannon.