MATCH PREDICTION: Hyderabad Hunters will scrape through the Warriors in a close contest

IN THE FIRST home match for Hyderabad Hunters they are up against Awadhe Warriors in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad today.

Hyderabad will be keen to start on a winning note in front of their fans. The match will be an exciting one as both the teams have major Indian stalwarts. If the Warriors have Saina Nehwal, then the Hunters have Kashyap, both crowd pullers.

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.

TFG analyses and predicts the winner of the match based on a possible line-up of players, as the teams have to announce their team and Trump match only an hour before the game.

HYDERABAD HUNTERS vs AWADHE WARRIORS

The following shuttlers are likely to play against each other in their respective categories; Men's singles: Kashyap (Hyderabad) against Sai Praneeth (Awadhe); Men's doubles: Kido/Mogensen (Hyderabad) against Cai Yun/Issara (Awadhe); Women's singles: Supanida (Hyderabad) against Saina Nehwal (Awadhe); Men's singles: Lee Chong Wei (Hyderabad) against Tanongsak (Awadhe); Mixed doubles: Kido/Gutta (Hyderabad) against Gunawan/Maneesha (Awadhe).

It remains to be seen which matches each team will nominate as their Trump match.

Kashyap and Praneeth will be meeting for the first time and it will be an interesting match but the result is likely to end in the former's favour. The Hunters are likely to nominate this as their Trump match and get two points.

In the other men's singles match, Lee holds the upper hand over the Thai, but keeping in mind Lee's current performance, he will be raring to go for a win. Playing in front of the home fans will be the added pressure, but Lee being the top shuttler he should get past Tanongsak.

The Warriors are likely to choose their men's doubles pair as the Trump match. Yun/Issara look very strong and beating them would be tough.

The women's singles would favour the Warriors as Saina is in great form and will triumph over Supanida, it will be the first time these two are meeting. Though she does not represent Hyderabad, the crowd support will definitely be on her side in her home city.

The mixed doubles contest is likely to go in favour of the Hunters as Kido/Gutta have more experience over Maneesha/Gunawan, but expect a close contest.

Though Saina might be a strong factor for the Warriors, the fact that they don't have a Trump match with her might tilt the match in the favour of the Hyderabad Hunters.