Star shuttler Saina Nehwal brought Hyderabad Hotshots on level terms by trouncing her young challenger P V Sindhu in the much-anticipated contest after K Srikanth gave Awadh Warriors an unexpected 1-0 lead in the Indian Badminton League final here today.
Srikanth shocked his Thai rival S Tanongsak, ranked 19 placed above him in the world, 21-12, 21-20 in 38 minutes to put the Warriors 1-0 ahead in the summit contest of the USD one million prize money tournament at the NSCI's Stadium.
However, any hopes of Sindhu making it a commanding 2-0 lead for the Lucknow-based Warriors vanished into thin air when she was overpowered by her more experienced rival Saina in the eagerly awaited battle between India's top two women shuttlers.
Saina, who had beaten the taller Sindhu when the two met earlier on August 15 in the league stage, smashed and dropped her way with impunity to win the one-sided contest 21-15, 21-17 in just 35 minutes and helped the Hotshots square the contest 1-1.
The 23-year-old London Olympic bronze medallist took an early 7-3 lead over her World Championship bronze medallist rival, before the lanky Sindhu raised some visions of a fight back by narrowing the leeway to 7-8.
But world number four Saina came up with some fine body smashes and drops to surge to a handy 14-9 lead.
Though world number 10 Sindhu came close to within two points when her more experienced rival committed unforced errors, there was no denying Saina who jumped to 20-12 with a net dribble and closed out the game with a smash winner.
The second game was even more lopsided as Saina, unbeaten in the tournament, stamped her superiority with a punishing array of shots. She took commanding 7-1 and 13-4 leads and then stepped up the pace further to completely dismantle her 18-year old Hyderabad city rival's game, winning the last two points in great style with a smash and a drop.
"I am happy with the way I played in the tournament," said Saina after the lop-sided contest that would have disappointed the packed crowd.
