Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
At the top level, against top players, one has to make the most of slightest of opportunities because they are not easy to come by. The narrowest of openings has to be capitalised on. A hint of a chance has to be exploited. If you don’t, the probability of being punished will be high.
It was Kidambi Srikanth’s turn to accept this harsh reality. After losing the first game 14-21 against World No 1 Victor Axelsen in the first round of the India Open, the Indian found himself in a position where opportunity was knocking on his door. He worked hard to take a 14-5 lead in the second game. It was a golden chance to force a decider against the undisputed king of contemporary badminton. But he kept committing elementary errors on crucial points to allow Axelsen to stage an improbable comeback. The Dane accepted the opportunity and won 21-19.
“Really can’t believe I won that second game. He (Srikanth) just locked me in. I was not feeling good at all. Coming from a hot and humid country (Malaysia) to New Delhi where it is rather cold, I am still trying to adjust in the best way possible. And I am still recovering after last week. It’s a long journey, five and-a-half hours. I am not at my best physically. But yeah, it is really surprising how I won that game,” Axelsen said after the match.
Axelsen was not at his best. As he said, he is not yet at his peak physically after winning the season-opener in Malaysia last week. He hardly attacked in the first game, concentrated on retrieving and was happy keeping the shuttle in the court. In fact, the reigning Olympic and world champion did not hit more than four-five winners in the opening game. He let Srikanth do the hitting and went on attack on a handful of occasions. The World No 13 was in it until 8-8 but made mistakes to see the game gradually slip away from him.
The second game began on a different note. Srikanth again did most of the attacking but committed fewer errors. A former World No 1 himself, he took the lead at 2-1 and kept stretching it showing great enterprise. Undaunted by Axelsen’s immaculate defence, he peppered him with smashes on both sides to extend his lead. At 14-5, it was his game to lose. The horror of errors came back and the gap between points started reducing drastically, from 14-5 to 14-12. He dropped quite a few points trying to lob the shuttle to the other side with the backhand while playing close to the net.
Srikanth still managed to keep his lead. In between errors there were powerful smashes, deft flicks and some clever dribbling at the net. But at 18-16, he netted a simple putaway. That’s where the game turned. A 19-16 lead could have been a boon but it became 18-17 and then 18-18. Srikanth seized the initiative back with a delightful crosscourt flick, but undid the good work by miscuing another simple shot with Axelsen at his mercy. He netted another when the score was 19-19.
“It was a good game overall. Thought I played well in the second game but there were too many mistakes. There were a lot of points which I should have finished off and I ended up giving him the opportunity to come back instead. My plan was to be there till the end and I was there. But there were too many errors, like at 19-18 I missed that tap. I have to sit down with my coaches and understand what went wrong,” said Srikanth.