IBL: Delhi Smashers thrash Banga Beats 4-1

It will not be easy for the Beats when they cross swords with tabletoppers Hyderabad Hotshots in Saina Nehwal39s backyard The Hostshots have been in supreme form with fifteen points from four ties The contest between the two teams was a onesided affair as the hosts for whom it was an humongous task for winning the tie with a huge margin to storm into the last four stage were completely outplayed and hardly gave any impression of bouncing backu00a0 The saving grace however was the Indian ace shuttler Parupalli Kashyap who gave a rousing start for the Beats by thrashing B Sai Praneeth 2115 2111 to put his team 10 ahead of Smashers in the men39s singles tie After this loss the Beats are placed at fifth place on the table with nine points from one win and three losses in four ties They will next play Hotshots on August 27 in Hyderabad However the 41 win by Samshers enlivened their hopes of an outside chance of sneaking into the semifinals provided the hosts and Awadhe Warriors lose their next encounters very badly They have now piped P V Sindhuled Warriors and occupied the fourth place on the table with 13 points compared to 12 bagged by the former They will play secondplaced Pune Pistons who are sitting pretty with 15 points Kashyap and Praneeth won their respective singles as both teams tied at 11 in the first two matches of the tie Kashyap did not miss a chance to bring his team39s campaign back on track by beating giantkiller Praneeth 2115 2111 to put his team 10 ahead of Smashers in the men39s singles tie However the Beats Carolina Marin who is tagged as the future star from European continent by chief coach U Vimal Kumar brought disappointment for the fans as she lost the match 1721 2115 911 after coming from behind in the second game and gave in to the dominating Nichaon Jindapon of Smashers in the deciding gameu00a0 Boon Hoeng Tan and Kien Keat Koo then kept the hopes alive for the Smashers with a 2111 1121 117 victory over Beats39 Carsten Mogensen and Akshay Dewalkar in the men39s doubles to give Smashers 21 lead in the tie H S Pranoy of Smashers capitalised on the lead by tightening the noose against Beats39 Aravind Bhat by winning the first game and then the decider before losing one to his opponent in the second His 2118 721 118 victory guided the visitors to clinch the tie 31 at the end of the fourth game Praneeth began the campaign for Smashers taking 76 lead over Kashyap in the first game However Kashyap fought back and grabbed 147 lead after the second break The world number 14 played some delectable smashes across the court dismantling the confidence of Praneeth who had an advantage to capitalise after the first halt Kashyap who played three and one game in the league kept breathing down the neck of Praneeth who managed a lone point before the Hyderabad lad clinched the first game 2115 Having bagged the first game Kashyap did not lose the grip over his world number 37 opponent and soon went up 72 in the second game Kashyap did not give much room for Praneeth to make a comeback and brought down the oppoent to his knees with downtheline and bodyline smashes sometines at a great speed of 251 per kilometers per hour No match for such powerplay Praneeth conceded the match 2115 2111 to give Beats a 10 lead in the tie In the second match Jindapon was more dominating initially as she took a 73 lead at the opening break in the first game However Marin fought her way back by taking 1412 lead against Jindapon after the second break In the seesaw match that ensued Jindapon outplayed her opponent Marin by defeating her 2117 in the first game In the second game of the match Jindapon and Marin were tied at 1010 at one stage but soon the Spanish girl stretched her lead to 1915 and polished off the game comfortably 2115 Taking the tie to the decider the World No 19 Marin lost the plot in the third game losing the match 1721 2115 911 Though Tan and Koo started well by taking the first game 2111 in the third match Mogensen and Dewalkar got down to business and totally dominated the second game with aggressive play and confident game near the net With 14 all at the second break they did not let the Malaysian pair crawl back neckandneck into the game and outsmarted them 2120 The decider was a cakewalk for Tan and Koo 71 lead at the first break The Smashers39 pair with some unstoppable smashes galloped to victory 2111 2021 117 In the fourth match between Pranoy and Bhat the later lost the first game 1821 but turned the tables pocketing the second game 217 with a series of smashes which was good enough to outfox the Smashers shuttler In the decider started as the first one as Pranoy managed to take an early lead 74 which he did extend to 97 and kept his composure to win the tie 31 at the stage for Smashers with his bodyline smashes Mixed doubles pair of Gutta and V Diju further pulverized the hopes of Beats as they defeated Beats39 pair of Mogensen and Marin 2116 1521 and 119 in the fifth and final match outwitting the hosts 41 in the tieu00a0