PV Sindhu outclasses Saina Nehwal to guide Chennai Smashers into PBL final

P V Sindhu of Chennai Smashers celebrates after beating Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors during the Premier Badminton League II 2017 Stage 2Team knock out womens singles match at Sirifort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Friday PicPTINew Delhi Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu inspired the Chennai Smashers to beat Awadhe Warriors 41 in the first semifinal and storm into the finals of the Premier Badminton League PBL at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium here on FridayChennai will now take on the winner of the second semifinal between Hyderabad Hunters and Mumbai Rockets which will take place later in the nightAs expected the marquee Trump match for Chennai between the two poster girls of Indian badminton Saina Nehwal and Sindhu turned out to be a pulsating contest with the Rio Olympics silver medallist clinching it 117 118World No9 Saina started off well to edge past Sindhu 65 in the break before the 21yearold World No10 bounced back in style to take four consecutive points and clinch the first game 117The second game witnessed Sindhu quickly taking a 63 lead in the break before a resilient Saina used all her experience to inch closer and make it 89 but the lanky Sindhu held her nerve to clinch two crucial points as Chennai took back the lead 32Saina Nehwal of Awadhe Warriors plays against V Sindhu Pusarla of Chennai Smashers during the Premier Badminton League II 2017 Stage 2Team Knock out womens singles match at Sirifort Sports complex in New Delhi on FridayPicPTIEarlier Awadhe Warriors grabbed the lead in the first game of the evening as World No 10 Thailand duo of Bodin Isara and Savitree Amitrapai came back from a game down to defeat Englands Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock 911 118 115The first game witnessed fastpaced rallies from either side as the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist English pair came from behind to win itBodin and Savitree bounced back well in the second game to take a 62 lead in no time and consolidated their position to reach 106 when Chris hit the netA couple of errors at the net by Bodin and Savitree helped Warriors save two points but Chris misjudged the length and sent the shuttle long as Chennai roared back to contestThe third game was no different as the Thia duo extended their lead to 52 before exerting more pressure on the English husbandwife combo to convincingly pocket it 115Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap then opened the account for Chennai Smashers with a dominating display over Hong Kongs World No 18 Wong Ki Vincent in the first mens singles tieWorld No 62 Kashyap capitalised on the many unforced errors from Vincent as he took the opening game 114 before using all his experience to pocket the second game 116World No 13 Kidambi Srikanth then handed back the lead to the Warriors with a hardfought 1412 117 win over Indonesias Tommy SugiartoBoth Srikanth and Sugiarto matched each other shot for shot before the South Asian Games gold medallist prevailed in the extended points to take the first gameIn the second game the Gunturborn shuttler did not let any scoring opportunities go and took full advantage of the many unforced errors from the Indonesian to clinch the tieWith Chennai leading 32 the first semifinal went down to the wire with the mens double match the Trump match for the Warriors turning out to be the deciderThe Chennai duo of Chris Adcock and Mads Pieler Kolding wasted no time in thrashing the Warriors pair of V Shem Goh and Markis Kido 113 in the first game before the Warriors hunted back to take a 65 lead in the break of the second gameThe Chennai duo however kept their calm and clawed back to win the contest 1210 as the Warriors pair failed to capitalise on their lead early in the game