MATCH PREDICTION: In a battle of equals, Hyderabad set to edge ahead of Bengaluru

THE FIRST MATCH on the second day of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) pits the Hyderabad Hunters against the Bengaluru Top Guns at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) stadium in Mumbai, with both teams looking equally good.

The Hunters have a good mix of experience and youth and their coach Rajendra Kumar is confident about their team doing well.

#HyderabadHunters coach Rajendra Kumar "Have a good chance of winning the league! Have some exciting players in the ranks!"

— HyderabadHunters (@Hyd_Hunters) December 24, 2015

The Top Guns will be coached by Arvind Bhatt who retired earlier this year from playing internationally. Bhatt became the first and the only Indian to win the German Open at the age of 35. His experience of coaching will be put to test. But he has travelled with the Indian team to Denmark and with the guidance of Gopichand, Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar under whom he has trained will help him with his new endeavour.

"It is a great feeling to be a coach, the best in fact. If one has done playing professional, it is good to then become a coach. It keeps you going and never leave the love for the sport," said Bhatt.

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.

HYDERABAD HUNTERS vs BENGALURU TOP GUNS

The following shuttlers are likely to play in their respective categories: in the first Men's singles, P Kashyap (Hyderabad) is likely to play Srikanth (Bengaluru); Men's doubles will see Markis Kido/Carsten Mogensen (Hyderabad) against Khim Wah Lim/Hoon Thien How (Bengaluru); Women's singles will be between Supanida Katethong (Hyderabad) and Suo Di (Bengaluru); Mixed doubles between Carsten Mogensen/Jwala Gutta (Hyderabad) and Joachiam Fischer/Ashwini Ponnappa (Bengaluru), and finally the second Men's singles will see Siril Verma (Hyderabad) face off against Sameer Verma (Bengaluru).

It remains to be seen which matches each team will nominate as their Trump match. Hyderabad is likely to choose the women's singles as their trump match because Supanida holds the upper hand, having won three International series this year. But Suo Di with her experience could cause an upset.

Bengaluru is likely to choose their mixed doubles as their trump match. Fischer/Ponnappa have the experience of playing with each other since the first season. They understand each other's game which gives the pair the upper hand.

Kashyap is keen and looking forward to playing against Srikanth as the former holds the lead in the head-to-head at the international stage.

"I am awaiting my first match and hoping that it will be a clash against Srikanth. If we play against each other it will be an exciting game, giving the in-stadia crowd as well as the viewers an exhilarating game of badminton," said Kashyap.

The men's doubles pair of Hyderabad looks stronger pair over the Bengaluru duo. Kido/Carsten have the experience and skill to overtake the game from the Top Guns.

In the second men's singles between Siril and Sameer, the latter holds an edge to win the match, as in head-to-head Sameer leads 1-0 over the Hyderabad shuttler.

It is going to be a close battle where a single match can change the fortunes of either of the teams. Based on a careful analysis TFG predicts a narrow one-point win for the Hyderabad Hunters.