BENGALURU BLASTERS defeated Ahmedabad Smash Masters 4-3 to enter the finals of PBL.Â
It was a great match to kick-start the tie as Sourabh Verma and Chong Feng were in action against each other. Sourabh looked in a hurry to finish things as he won the opening game 15-2 displaying some great shots and forcing his opponent to making too many unforced errors.
But Blasters' Chong Feng got back to his groove and made good use of his all experience as the second was a closely contested game. At 14-14, it could have gone either ways but finally with a great shot on display Feng won it 15-14 to call for a decider.
The final to saw a neck-to-neck battle between the two and Sourabh looking determined as ever he won the game 15-13 to give his team Smash Masters the opening point of the tie.
This was followed by the trump match for Bengaluru as Mathias Boe/Kim Sa Rang were up against Reginald/Nandagopal Kidambi. It was another tough battle of the night as both the pairs had some great sporting skills to show. The trump pair won the opening game 15-13 to ease off some pressure from them.
Led by Boe, the second match too went in Blasters' favour as Kim's super smash was enough to win them the game and the match to give their team a 2-1 lead.
Tai Tzu Ying was up next playing her trump for Smash Masters against Kirsty Gilmour. The Blasters' shuttler put up a brilliant performance to win the opening game 15-8 putting the World No. 1 under immense pressure. The loss for Tai would mean that Bengaluru would enter the finals. But Tai proved why she is a top shuttler with her comeback fight to win the following two games 15-13, 15-8 to put her team once again in the lead 3-2.
This set up for the men's singles shuttlers contest between HS Prannoy and Viktor Axelsen. Prannoy stood a chance to take his team to the finals with a win while Viktor would force the final match of the tie by levelling the tie scores.
And as expected it was a gritty match, hard fought by both the shuttlers. Viktor took the opening game 15-11 while the second one saw a close contest going down to the wire. Prannoy was showing signs of fight and it looked like this match would see a final game but Viktor wasn't in a mood to do that as he won it 15-14 to level the score tie at 3-3.
And it was going down to the final match of the tie to decide a winner. The mixed doubles were in action. Smash Masters pair Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Law Cheuk Him had the lead at the initial stage but then a series of points were won by Sikki Reddy/Kim Rang that they won the first game 15-12.
But then the Smash Masters came back to win the second 15-13 and this was going to the final game for the winner. The final game was a close but post interval, it was domination from Blasters pair and they won it 15-9 to help their team enter the finals.
Bengaluru Blasters made it to their first ever finals of PBL beating debutants Smash Masters 4-3. On Sunday (14th January) they will once again lock horns with Hyderabad Hunters for the trophy.