MATCH PREDICTION: Chennai to continue their winning run over Awadhe Warriors

AWADHE WARRIORS AND CHENNAI SMASHERS look very strong and it will be a nerve-wracking match when the two face each other at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad today. The two stalwarts of the teams, leading Indian women's singles shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu will face off against each other and that will leave the fans roaring on the edge of their seats.

Both look confident as they have won their previous matches in and against Hyderabad. It is a great way to end the Hyderabad leg with these two teams clashing against each other. Saina was again rested in the match against the Hunters but considering Sindhu is in the opponent's team the, World no.2 is likely to play today. 

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.

CHENNAI SMASHERS vs AWADHE WARRIORS

The following shuttlers are likely to play against each other in their respective categories; Men's singles; Men's singles: Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Chennai) against Sai Praneeth (Awadhe); Men's doubles: Chris/Pranaav Jerry Chopra (Chennai) against Yun/Issara (Awadhe); Women's singles: PV Sindhu (Chennai) against Saina (Awadhe); Men's singles: Simon Santoso (Chennai) against Tanongsak (Awadhe); Mixed doubles: Chris/Pia (Chennai) against Issara/Pedersen (Awadhe).

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

Kuncoro holds the edge over Praneeth and therefore, it is likely that he win will the match and give his team the first points. The Smashers are likely to nominate this as their trump match. The second men's singles match would also fall in favour of the Smashers as Santoso leads the head-to-head count 3-0 over the Thai shuttler.

The men's doubles match will be the trump for the Warriors as Yun/Issara are a stronger pair than the Chennai duo. In the match against Hyderabad, the Awadhe pairing put up a great show.

The women's singles will be a cracker of a game but crowd favourite Saina will triumph over the 20-year-old. 

The mixed doubles match will end in favour of the Smashers as Pia/Chris understand each other's game and have delivered the desired results.

It will be a close contest but Smashers hold the edge because of their strength in the men's singles category.