MATCH PREDICTION: Delhi in search for first win, but the Hunters are all set to deny them one

DELHI ACERS TAKE ON HYDERABAD HUNTERS in their first home game in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the DDA Badminton & Squash Stadium, Siri Fort in Delhi today. This is only the second outing for the Hunters after they won their first tie against Bengaluru in Mumbai, while Delhi are still in search for their first win after losing two back-to-back matches.

Here the Acers will be backed by their fans, but it would be a tough match against the Hunters who have the likes of Lee Chong Wei, Kashyap, Kido, Mogensen in their team.

RULES: Each tie comprises of 5 matches -- Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles, Mixed Doubles & Men’s Singles.  Each Match will be played as best-of-three games, with each game being a race to 15 points and a sudden death at 14-14. After each team shares the list of players who will be playing the 5 matches and their choice of Trump match, the order of play will be mutually decided by the technical team of PBL & broadcaster Star India before each tie (from a neutral perspective) to keep the schedule unpredictable.

TRUMP MATCH: Each team strategically selects one of the 5 matches that they play in a Tie as their Trump match. In a Trump match, a victory gives the team a bonus point and a loss gives it a negative point. A team cannot put the same player in the Trump matches proposed by them more than twice in the league stage and once in the knockout stage i.e. if team A places 5 trump matches during the league stage, any player can take part in maximum two of those 5 matches. However, the participation of a player in a Trump match proposed by the opponent will not be counted in this maximum 2 criterion.

For scoring in a Trump match, victory in a normal match gives 1 point, loss carries 0 points. In a Trump match, the team that has called for the Trump gets 2 points for victory and -1 for a loss. However, the other team will play this match as a normal match and will either get 1 or 0 points for win or loss respectively. If both the teams place the Trump on the same match, then for both of them +2 or -1 scoring will apply for win or loss respectively.

TFG analyses and predicts the winner of the match based on a possible line-up of players, as the teams have to announce their team and Trump match only an hour before the game.

DELHI ACERS vs HYDERABAD HUNTERS

The following shuttlers are likely to play against each other in their respective categories; Men's singles: Kashyap (Hyderabad) against Ajay (Delhi); Men's doubles: Markis Kido/Carsten Mogensen (Hyderabad) against Koo Kien Kieat/Tan Boon Heong (Delhi); Women's singles: Supanida (Hyderabad) against PC Thulasi (Delhi); Men's singles: Lee (Hyderabad) against Tommy (Delhi); Mixed doubles: Kido/Jwala Gutta (Hyderabad) against Akshay Dewalkar/Gabrielle Adcock (Delhi).

It remains to be seen which matches each team will nominate as their Trump match.

The men's singles between the two Indian shuttlers will be treat to watch for the fans. Both Kashyap and Ajay won their first matches and the latter holds the lead 1-0 in the head-to-head count at the international stage. It will be a tough tie, but Ajay looks stronger and will win this tie..

Though Lee had a disappointing run against Srikanth in the first match he will be back stronger after his win against Tommy. The former World No. 1 holds a massive lead of 13-0 against the Indonesian. The second men's singles tie too will be in favour of the Hunters.

The men's doubles pair of the Acers haven't clicked yet, having lost both their matches. On the other hand Kido/Mogensen look like the pair to beat and the Hunters shouldn't face too many problems here..

The women's singles is likely to be the trump match for Hyderabad. Though Thulasi has a lead of 1-0 over Supanida, considering her two losses recently, the latter should have the upper hand and take those two points for her team.

The mixed doubles pair of both the teams look strong, but Akshay/Gabrielle of the Acers hold an edge over Kido/Gutta. The latter lost their first match, while the former have won one out of two matches and the second match they lost was a very close one. The Acers are likely to nominate this as their Trump. 

Overall, the Hunters look strong in certain categories and are likely to take advantage of the situation and claim their second straight win over the Acers.