PBL 2016 kicks off tomorrow, to experiment with Trump match

Mumbai The revamped Premier Badminton League PBL commencing here tomorrow with hosts Mumbai Rockets taking on the Saina Nehwalspearheaded Awadhe Warriors is to experiment with a new concept Trump match thats expected to keep the interest till the end of a tieThe League revived after a gap of two years following a successful inaugural Indian Badminton League in 2013 has brought in the fresh idea in which each of the competing teams will nominate one match in each tie as their Trump CardSaina Nehwal Pic AFPA victory by the team that picked the particular game as its Trump will provide it with one extra point but a defeat will set it back by one point and the intrigue generated bythis new concept would keep the ties alive till the end according to national coach Pullela GopichandIts a great addition to the league to ensure that the excitement remains till the end of the tie Two teams can nominate the same match as Trump match This ensures that the last two matches are also important in a tie said Gopichand here in the runup to the League openerEven a 30 lead is not sufficient to win as you still can lose the tie Spectators interest will be kept alive It needs to be seen how the players react to the extra pressure Some play better under pressure and some others crack he saidWorld no 2 Saina who commanded USD 100000 at the auction would be leading Awadhe Warriors challenge against Mumbai Rockets who appear strong in mens singles with two top men shuttlers of the country H S Prannoy and R M V Gurusaidutt leading their chargeThe host outfit has a strong mens doubles players in Denmarks Mathias Boe and Russias Vladimir Ivanov World no 20 Prannoy has already sounded upbeat about his teams chancesOver the last two years I have been playing really well along with Gurusaidutt We both are in good form We are a pretty balanced outfit We have really good doubles players too said the 23yearold who hails from Kerala here ahead of the tournament openerThe Warriors would look up in the main to Sai Praneeth Sourabh Verma and Tanomgsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in mens singles apart from the undoubted skills and fighting spirit of London Olympics bronze medallist and World Championship silver medallist SainaThe opening tie will be followed on January 3 by clashes between Hyderabad Hunters and Bengaluru Top Guns to be followed by the evening encounter between the Rockets and Chennai SmashersTop Guns have roped in a pretty strong mens singles players in Kidambi Srikanth Indias highest ranked player in the world no 9 Anand Pawar and Sameer Verma who recently won the mens singles crown at the Tata Open Indian ChallengeThe Malaysian mens doubles combination of Kim Wah Lim and Thien How Hoon ranked 32nd adds meat to the squads overall strength along with Indias womens doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa Hyderabad on the other hand have the formidable Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia currently the world no 5 to lead the challenge from the front Hes got the added experience of having played in season 1 of the LeagueHunters would also depend on 2012 Olympic Games quarter finalist Parupalli Kashyap the world no 15 who is on the comeback trail after an injury layoff in singles They also have the vast experience of Carsten Mogensen mensmixed doubles of Denmark and veteran Indian shuttler Jwala Gutta womensmixed doubles The team looks very well equippedChennai Smashers dont have any top mens singles players in their ranks and would be depending a lot on the performance of their top woman singles player P V Sindhuranked 12th in the world They have the seasoned Indian mens doubles player Prannav Jerry Chopra to bank on along with Englands top mixed doubles player Chris Adcock whose regular partner Gabrielle Adcock however will be representing Delhi Acers whose shuttlers will not be playing hereThe second leg of the tournament after its twoday stint in Mumbai is to be held in Lucknow on January 4 5 and 6 The tournament would be telecast live by Star Sportswhich has signed up as the title sponsor for the PBL the channel announced todayStar Sports plans to introduce several innovative broadcast initiatives to the League in its efforts to forge a deeper engagement with fans and place them right in the thickof this fastpaced sport The broadcaster will project telemetry like playersiquest heart rates live on screen the channel said in a media statementTweaks to the rules like unpredictable player draws Trump Matches which are worth bonus points and the newlyintroduced sudden death rule will add a further dose of excitement to the tournament It will also hand out four awards after each day of play for the best rally the fastest smash the player of the day and the fan of the day as selected through contests run by franchises across locations it added