Manila (Philippines): Doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's absence proved crucial as the Indian men's team suffered a 1-4 loss against a young Malaysian side in its second group B match of the Badminton Asia Team Championships here on Thursday. With Satwik pulling out the event due to an ankle sprain, India were forced to field two scratch pairs -- MR Arjun and Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila and Lakshya Sen, both of whom lost their respective ties.

Kidambi Srikanth was the only shuttler to register a win as world no. 11 B Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy too went down in the other singles in straight games at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. After this loss, India finished second in the group and will now take on Thailand in the quarterfinals on Friday. After a 4-1 win over minnows Kazakhstan in the opening match, India locked horns with Malaysia and with Satwik missing, the onus was on Praneeth to give India a good start but the world championships bronze medallist lost 18-21 15-21 to world no. 14 Lee Zii Jia. Chirag and Arjun then lasted just 31 minutes before going down 18-21 15-21 to world no. 8 Malaysian combination of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik as India lagged 0-2.