World no. four Saina Nehwal will take play in front of her home crowd for the first in the inaugural IBL when table-toppers Hyderabad Hotshots face bottom-placed Banga Beats on Tuesday.
While it will be an opportinuity for Hotshorts to consolidate their position, the visitors would look to play for pride. After their 1-4 loss to Dlhi Smashers on Sunday, the Bangalore side now has just nine points from four outings with one win and three defeats.
On paper, Beats boast of a balanced line-up, including icon player Parupalli Kashyap, world no. eight Hun Yu and rising star Tai Tzu Ying. But the men’s singles players have not been consistent so far which proved to be their bane.
The presence of stars like Saina, veteran Taufik Hidayat and young Ajay Jayaram in the rival camp will only make things difficult for them.
Also, doubles specialists V Shem Goh, Khim Wah Lim, Tarun Kona and Pradnya Gadre in the opposition may prove to be too much for the Banga Beats. While Saina is representing her city, another home-grown star, Kashyap, would also look to make use of the local support.
As is the case with most of the established Indian shuttlers, Kashyap also learnt the nuances of the game at the Pullela Gopichand Academy.
Spanish import Carolina Marin, 2012 London Olympics silver medallist and Carsten Mongensen, former world no. one in men’s doubles, would also look to chip in for Beats along with young Indians like Aparna Balan, Arvind Bhatt, Aditya Prakash, Akshay Dewalkar and J Meghna. However, in Saina’s backyard, it will take a lot of doing for Beats to get the better of Hostshots, who have been in supreme form with 15 points from four ties.
Hyderabad Hotshots: Saina Nehwal, Taufik Hidayat, Ajay Jayaram, V Shem Goh , T Kona, P Gadre, Khim Wah Lim, Tanongsak, K Visalakshi, S Dey, Rahul Yadav. Banga Beats: P Kashyap, Hu Yun, Tai Tzu Ying, C Marin, Carston Margensen, A Dewalkar, Aparna Balan, Aditya Prakash, Arvind Bhat, J Meghana.