On the first match point against Pablo Abian, Kidambi Srikanth pushed the Spaniard to the backhand court and had to simply tap in the winner standing on the top of the net, while his opponent was nowhere near.
The finishing point of the second-round encounter at the Badminton World Championships was nothing short of an anti-climax after the 62-minute match tested the wits of the former world No 1 before he found a different gear in the second half of the deciding game.
Having won the opening game 21-15 with considerable ease, Srikanth would have been expected to sail through the second-round encounter against an opponent who is eight years older than him and had hit his peak six years ago by breaking into the top-20.
However, unpredictability has been the bane of Srikanth’s game. The 25-year-old has been guilty of succumbing to pressure in major events when the opponent takes the fight to him. A similar pattern had emerged in the quarter-finals of the last edition of the world championships in Glasgow, when the Indian could not break the shackles against Son Wan Ho when he was the overwhelming favourite.
Going into the world championships this time around, Srikanth wasn’t really in prime form with a spate of injuries holding him back this year. However, the pressure of expectations has definitely returned with the withdrawal of the legendary Lee Chong Wei, who was considered the biggest hurdle between the Indian and his first world championship medal.
This is where Srikanth should be thankful that Abian decided play the match of his life and help the Indian find the rhythm required to go deep into such major tournaments.
Inspired opponent
Abian literally exploded mid-way through the second game, going for the expansive winners, hitting every smash with ferocious determination while stretching, running and even diving to keep the shuttle in play when he was on the backfoot.
During one of the rallies in the second game, the Spaniard tried to judge Srikanth’s push on the forehand sideline, played the shuttle at the last minute to keep the rally going and then retrieved half a dozen smashes from his opponent before the Indian opted to leave an attacking toss, which fell in.
The rally completely deflated Srikanth as Abian raced from 12-10 to 19-10 and though the Indian managed to salvage some pride, he could not avoid a decider.
A similar pattern emerged early in the third game with both players going neck and neck till an inspired defensive point from Abian allowed him to take a 7-6 lead. Srikanth responded with a couple of unforced errors to hand a three-point advantage to his opponent.
At this stage, Srikanth was probably lucky that one of Abian’s smashes went wide despite the Spaniard dominating the rally. The Indian’s own net dribble then just scrapped the line as he successfully challenged the call to close the gap.
Those two points probably gave Srikanth the confidence to go for the kill and it was a completely transformed approach from the Indian after the change of ends, as he went for the big booming jump smashes and decided to test the fitness levels of his much elder opponent by increasing the pace of the rallies.
Srikanth has always been a rhythm player. When he gets going, it is difficult to stop him, which is something Abian found out once the fifth seed hit his strides in the third game.
Coach Pullela Gopichand, sitting on the sidelines, would be happy with the way Srikanth came back mentally. There have been times when the 25-year-old had shut off under such circumstances, not even listening to the instructions of the coaches, and ended up either going into a defensive shell or attacking recklessly to find a way out.
On Wednesday, the Indian was composed and even showed the audacity to use deceptive dribbles and attack Abian’s short serves to gain the upper hand. He bagged seven of the last eight points to win the decider comfortably in the end.
Man to beat
After the first match against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen, Srikanth had spoken about the need to get used to the conditions in the court and how he prefers not to carry the favourites tag while playing big tournaments.
However much he wants to underplay his chances in public, he definitely knows that the absence of Chong Wei and loss of Indonesia’s Jonathan Christie in the opening round has opened the draw for him till the semi-finals and he would be the man to beat for everyone facing him.
The Abian match, apart from helping him spend more time on the court and get used to the conditions, should also help him settle whatever nerves he had going into the competition. It should also give him the confidence that he is physically in a good state and can handle the pressure even when pushed to the wall.
If Srikanth does go on to build on this momentum and become the first Indian men’s singles player since Prakash Padukone to win a world championship medal, he would do well to thank Abian for helping him find the rhythm that makes him an opponent’s nightmare.
Malaysia’s Daren Liew, who is Srikanth’s next opponent, would only be hoping the Indian doesn’t hit the strides from the word go in their pre-quarterfinal encounter on Thursday, or there could be no contest.
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