MATCH PREDICTION: Mumbai Rockets to edge hosts Hyderabad Hunters in a close shoot-out

A FRESH AND RESTED Mumbai Rockets will play Hyderabad Hunters at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad today. The Hunters seem like they lack the skills of hunting down their opponents. They have lost three matches in a row and that has left the home fans disappointed.

On the other hand, Mumbai has played three matches out of which they have won two and lost one. They last played against Bengaluru in Lucknow, so their players will be more pumped after getting enough rest and raring to play their best game.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad need to get their act together as it will be their last home match.

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 franchises will announce their team and Trump match only an hour before the game.

HYDERABAD HUNTERS vs MUMBAI ROCKETS

The following shuttlers are likely to play against each other in their respective categories; Men's singles: Men's singles: Kashyap (Hyderabad) against Gurusaidutt (Mumbai): Men's doubles: Kido/Mogensen (Hyderabad) against Ivanov/Boe (Mumbai); Women's singles: Supanida (Hyderabad) against Han Li (Mumbai); Men's singles: Lee Chong Wei (Hyderabad) against HS Prannoy (Mumbai); Mixed doubles: Gutta/Kido (Hyderabad) against Ivanov/Liu (Mumbai).

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

Kashyap's going through a lean patch as he has lost three matches in a row and against Gurusai the head-to-head count is levelled at 2-2, so the game could go either way. Since Kashyap hasn't been in a great form it is likely that Gurusai would win this match.

The men's doubles pair of Mumbai are strong together and they have won all their matches, therefore, this too would favour the Rockets. This would be the trump match for Mumbai.

 Supanida has lost her previous two matches and since she lacks in experience it is likely that Li would take this match in her favour.

This is the last home game so the Hunters might choose Lee's match as the trump. Lee holds the edge over Prannoy and since the former shuttler has got back to winning ways this would end in favour of the Hunters.

Ivanov/Li pulled a great match when they were paired for the first time but Kido/Gutta have been playing since the beginning of the league, understand each other's game and therefore, the Hunters' pair are likely to win this match and gain those vital points.

It is going to be yet another close encounter and though the Hunters would want to end their home leg with a win but the Rockets might edge the hosts for a win.