The Thomas Cup tie against Malaysia went down to the wire with Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy producing the wins.
India were put on the back foot early in the tie after Lakshya Sen, India’s highest ranked men’s singles player at world No 9, lost the opening rubber to world No 6 Lee Zii Jia.
Sen went into the match with 2-0 head-to-head record over the Malaysian, with his last win coming at the All England semi-final in March. However, Lee proved too good for the Indian on the night. The Malaysian came from behind to win the tight first game and completely dominated the next, winning 23-21, 21-9.
But Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy helped India level the score in the second fixture of the tie. Up against the in-form Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin, Chirag-Satwik played out an intense first game, which saw both teams matching each other point for point.
At 14-14 in the second game, the Indian pair stepped on the gas to pocket seven points while giving away just one, thereby winning the match 21-19, 21-15. Thereafter, world championships silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth gave India the lead. The world No. 11 from India saw off a resolution NG Tze Yong, who is ranked 46th in the world.
,