Barring Lakshya Sen, all Indian shuttlers kept losing one after the other on Court 1, be it Kidambi Srikanth, Malvika Bansod, HS Prannoy among others. But the 2,000-odd fans that had turned up at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Thursday stuck it out, waiting for that one pair who have become the flag bearers of Indian badminton today.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are unquestionably the best Indian hope going into any tournament today. They were here too at the $950,000 India Open. But the hopes of the fans as well as the third seeded pair’s aspirations fell flat as they lost their second round men’s doubles clash 25-27, 23-21, 21-19 in an hour and 13 minutes to Japan’s Hiroki Modorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita in what was the first match between the two pairs.
The world No.3 pair had got a first round walkover after Americans Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith pulled out which kept them out of court since last Friday when they lost the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open last week.
“It takes a while for you to get adjusted to a new stadium. We practiced on the main court on Monday morning but then for three days we couldn’t play on the main court. We were practicing in the practice courts (at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall). So it was a bit different. Right now I don’t want to give any excuses that this or that didn’t work well. We just didn’t play that well. Our game was very patchy. We played well in some points, not so good in other points,” said Shetty.
It was an odd game compared to the usual standards of Shetty and Rankireddy as the duo failed to find the flow and rhythm that is critical in any doubles game. Even though they won the first game, by the closest of margins, they never dominated it with Modorikawa and Yamashita not allowing the Indians to play their game.
In a big stadium where the game is expected to be slow, the Japanese employed flat exchanges which Rankireddy and Shetty failed to return with many of the shots going into the net. Even when they tried lifting the shuttle, the world No.22 combine were able to bring it down, pushing the shuttle just above the net as Rankireddy and Shetty made more errors.
“We were a bit hesitant. When it got close, we held back ourselves instead of being a little more proactive. We should have sort of finished the second game itself when we were leading 17-14, but we couldn’t. It’s time we need to buck up and focus on the next tournament,” said Shetty, referring to the Asia Championships next month.
“It takes a while for you to get adjusted. But we started off quite well. But we didn’t play the right game. They were two short players and we were pushing a bit more. Sometimes we were keeping it and converting it well, but at some points we were just trying to kill it, which were 50-50 points. And they were good in that counterattack.”
After sharing the first two games, it was neck and neck in the decider but at 15-all, the umpire ruled a controversial point in favour of the Japanese, alleging that Rankireddy had touched the net. The Indian argued but the point had been awarded and they had to get on with the game. But that point possibly broke their rhythm and momentum as they started hitting wayward returns.
“I didn’t feel anything (about touching the net). It was a crucial point. It’s not the way we wanted to lose a point. Because the rally was going on, we were on the attacking side. Maybe we could have got (ahead) 16-15 (and) it could have been a different scenario. Chirag was going to serve. Maybe we could have got one or two points here and there. Then we could have been in the lead. You never know,” said Rankireddy.
