PBL 2017-18: MATCH REPORT -- Bengaluru blast off Mumbai Rockets; go on top of the points table
BENGALURU BLASTERS blasted Mumbai Rockets 6- (1) to claim a second straight win in the third season of PBL while it's the second consecutive loss for the latter.
From the beginning it was a team effort from the Blasters. Their mixed doubles duo of Kim Sa Rang/Sikki Reddy carry on the winning momentum as they defeated Arjun MR/Gabriela Stoeva 15-8, 10-15, 15-10.
The lead was furthered by a hard-fought win by Bengaluru's women's singles shuttler Kirsty Gilmour who defeated Beiwen Zhang 15-14, 15-8. This put Viktor Axelsen in a great position as he could seal the tie for his team. The men's singles shuttler was playing the trump match against Son Wan Ho.
Winning the opening with ease 15-6, the second game saw tough fight put up by Son Wan but Viktor looked determined to take home the points, he won the second game 15-13. This gave Bengaluru the all important points as they led 4-0 with two matches remaining.
Though Mumbai had no chance to win the tie from here on, they did stand a chance to cut down the difference between the points. And Sameer Verma was under pressure to do so as he was playing the trump match against Chong Wei Feng.
He had a good start to the match, winning the opening game 15-9 but then Wei Feng to everyone's surprise came back stronger and won the following games easily 15-8, 15-6 to put the Mumbai's points into negative while Bengaluru took a 5 point lead.
The final match of the tie saw men's doubles Mathias Boe/Sa Rang clinch the match in three-game thriller of the night beating Lee Yong Dae/Boon Heong Tan 9-15, 15-10, 15-14. Especially the last game was a marvellous display of the best of men's doubles action on court. And one could undoubtly say that it was the best match so far in the league. And what a way to end the match with a 46 shot rally that went in favour of the Blasters' pair.
This helped Bengaluru win all the matches and earn six points and put Mumbai in the backfoot with a negative point.
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