MATCH PREDICTION: Mumbai Rockets to continue winning run over inconsistent Delhi

THE FIRST MATCH at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru today is between Mumbai Rockets and Delhi Acers. Both the teams will be playing their final matches before the knockout stage in the Premier Badminton League (PBL).

Delhi Acers are a team that looked strong on paper from the start of the league but they started on a losing note. Then they played their home matches in Delhi and won both the tiesto get their campaign on track. They are also the only team that has won all their Trump matches. At present they are placed second on the points table.

On the other hand Mumbai is placed fourth and are expected to continue their winning run as their morale will be high after an easy victory against Hyderabad Hunters.

The Acers hold the upper hand in the men's singles category and will put the Rockets' shuttlers to test. It will be a great contest between the men's doubles match as both have strong pairs. That is only if Mathias Boe has recovered as he was unwell and missed the match against Hyderabad.

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.

MUMBAI ROCKETS vs DELHI ACERS

The following shuttlers are likely to play against each other in their respective categories; Men's singles: HS Prannoy (Mumbai) against Rajiv Ouseph (Delhi); Men's doubles: Ivanov/Boe (Mumbai) against Kien/Heong (Delhi); Women's singles: Han Li (Mumbai) against PC Thulasi (Delhi); Men's singles: Gurusaidutt (Mumbai) against Tommy Sugiarto (Delhi); Mixed doubles: Ivanov/Juhl (Mumbai) against Akshay/Gabrielle (Delhi).

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

At the international stage, the Englishman, Rajiv holds a 1-0 lead over Prannoy. This would be a close encounter as both the shuttlers are in good form, but if experience taken into account Rajiv is the favourite to win. Both the shuttlers last played their match against Kashyap of Hyderabad and were winners.

Ivanov/Boe haven't lost a single match playing together, which has been a bonus for the Rockets. But in the tie against Hyderabad, Boe did not play as he was unwell and if he returns it will be a match in favour of the Rockets as Kien/Heong have been struggling in the league.

Considering the fact that Thulasi hasn't won a single match, the women's singles tie too favours the Rockets. Also the head-to-head count between the two is in favour of the Chinese shuttler Han Li who leads 1-0.

In the second men's singles match, Tommy holds the head-to-head count by 3-1 over Gurusai and it is likely that he will take the result in his favour. The Indonesian will also be beaming with confidence after beating Lee Chong Wei for the first time. This is likely to be the Acers' Trump match.

In the mixed doubles, Kamilla is back in action for the Rockets, partnering Ivanov and their win over Kido/Gutta of Hyderabad should give them the confidence to triumph over the less experienced pair of Akshay/Gabrielle.

Mumbai Rockets are all set to win this tie against a inconsistent Delhi, and puts the former in a strong position to qualify for the knockouts.