HYDERABAD HUNTERS defeated Bengaluru Blasters 4-3 in a epic PBL finale to be crowned the champions of PBL season 3.
A great atmosphere to play the finals as it was a packed Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, the home of Hyderabad Hunters. But it wasn't an expected start for them as their men's doubles duo of Markis Kido/Yeong Seong lost to Mathias Boe/Kim Sa Rang 9-15, 10-15 and it gave a point lead to Bengaluru.
But Hyderabad got their lead through men's singles shuttler Lee Hyun Il's trump match win over Subhankar Dey. It was a straight game victory for the 37-year-old 15-7, 15-13. This match was also all about long rallies as it saw a 35, 50, 40 etc shot rallies which kept the fans on the edge of their seats.
This was followed by yet another trump match, this time for the Bengaluru where their star shuttler Viktor Axelsen was up against Sai Praneeth. The former enjoyed a 3-0 head-to-head lead but a win here for Praneeth would seal the tie for his team.
But the World No. 1 would not let that happen as it was an easy win for the Dane 15-8, 15-10 to hold the record of staying unbeaten this season, a six out of six for Viktor. His win put Bengaluru back in the lead 3-2.
Women's singles contest followed and Carolina Marin was up against Kirsty Gilmour. The latter had a good chance of helping her team lift the trophy but it wouldn't be an easy match against Olympic Gold medallist.
And like expected it was a win for the Spaniard 15-8, 15-14 to get her team back to levelling the score at 3-3. An easy first game for Marin but the second game saw brilliant performance from Kirsty, but it wasn't for too long as the former took away the game and match. Marin too remains unbeaten in this season.
This brought down to the last match of the tie to decide the winner of the tie and the PBL season 3 champion.
And what a way to finish the tie with the mixed doubles action between Pia Zebadiah/Satwiksairaj playing Sikki Reddy/Kim Rang. The Blasters' pair remained unbeaten until this match because Satwik/Pia demolished the Blasters' duo to win the match 15-11, 15-12 and the tie and help their team to lift the PBL trophy.
Finally a 4-3 win for the home side, clearly a team effort from the Hunters saw them lift the third season of PBL.