AHMEDABAD SMASH MASTERS are the new entrants into the third season of Premier Badminton League. And looking at their team line-up, one must admit that they have bagged jackpots especially in the men's and women's singles department. A tough competition for other teams to watch out and it will also help attract fans for the team.
They have the services of World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying (WS) and HS Prannoy (MS) to take care of the singles department. Tai has four major titles this year to her name including the All England Open which helped her reach the top spot among the women's singles category and also maintain the spot.
It was a commendable move from the debutant team to get her on board. They did a similar thing in getting Prannoy. Though he has just one title to his name this year, the USA GPG which made him the first Indian shuttler to win in US.
He also had historic moments such as beating the likes of Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long consecutively at the Indonesia Open. And at the Denmark SSP, he once again defeated the mighty Lee Chong. Beating the big guns (Taufik Hidayat, Lee, Chen Long, Lin Dan) of World Badminton, has made him the only Indian shuttler to do so.
In the last edition of PBL, he was at his best for Mumbai Rockets and was instrumental to take them to the finals. He remained unbeaten in the tournament, the experience playing in the tournament and the eventful year he has had so far does make him a favourite in the team and rightfully deserved the highest bid at the auction.
The other shuttlers in the singles category include Sourabh Verma, Siril Verma (MS) and Sri Krishna Priya (WS). All these shuttlers have done well at the lower tier tournaments, GP and junior level tournaments but the most likely to get game time would be Sourabh. As Tai and Prannoy will be the favourites, Sourabh could be the regular feature in the second MS match.
Coming to the doubles category, this is where they may find themselves not so par with the others in the tournament.
Four players in the doubles category: Reginald Lee Chun Hei (Hong Kong), Law Cheuk Him (Hong Kong), Stefani Stoeva (Bulgaria) and Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Denmark).
Reginald and Law Cheuk are partners at the international circuit and therefore will be a likely pair for the team too in PBL. Since they have an understanding of playing with each other this should be a working combination but will they be able to withstand the others in the competition is something we'll have to wait and watch.
Reginald should be the best pick for the mixed doubles contest too. And partnering him should the experienced Dane Kamilla.
As a whole, the team looks extremely strong in the singles category but they could fall short in the doubles.