Satwik-Chirag will face Liang Weikeng and Chang Wang in the final on Sunday, pitting India’s best against China’s greatest.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty carry the unmistakable reputation of snipers from a different perspective: through the scorching down strokes and smashes for which the 6-and-up footers are famed. However, among their ever-expanding arsenal is the backhand lob, which they utilised to repeatedly go over Chinese He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu on Saturday to defeat the home duo 21-15, 22-20 in the Super 750 China Masters semifinals.

India’s prolific finalists and serial victors, ranked No.5 presently, will attempt to reach yet another milestone — beating the Chinese in a China Tour event — in their seventh final of the year and fourth on the Tour in 2023.

They were the only non-Chinese partnership in a field of four men’s doubles semifinalists at the Shenzhen Bay Gymnasium.

Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, and PV Sindhu, India’s top badminton players, are all competing in China, with partisan audiences creating a raucous atmosphere. Satwik-Chirag must now maintain their winning streak when they face World No.1 Wei Keng Liang and Chang Wang in the finals on Sunday.

The Indians have demonstrated incredible diversity in their playing techniques, winning the Swiss, Indonesian, and Korean Opens, as well as towering over opponents in various Asian Games. However, the top seeds may face their toughest tactical test of the year when they face the second seeded smiling assassins — Liang-Wang.

The Chinese, who won the India Open earlier this year, keep their calm, think on their feet, use the full court, are not spooked by offensive flurries, and can counterpunch the assaulting Indians. Satwik-Chirag demonstrated finesse in responding to the parallel game in the semis, peppering the pauses in flat exchanges with devastating lobs and subtle lifts. The finals may necessitate a total strategy revision.

In badminton, power can take several forms, the most prominent of which is the smash. While Satwik ended the 50-minute semifinal with a classic steep one and Chirag was unforgiving from his round the head side of cross hits, both Indians lit up Saturday with the lobs, even as coach Pullela Gopichand yelled, “thoda dheere maarke usko pakadnaa hai.”

The strength in the floaty lob that vaulted over the Chinese came from the cocked wrist that controlled the shuttle’s parabola following its course to fall just in front of the backline, not the shoulders.

Chirag was the net’s voracious pouncer and razor sharp scyther as usual, and the Chinese practically fled from delivering the shuttle to him, instead focusing on crowding Satwik. But it was Satwik, the underdog, who got out of danger, lunging at the forecourt and hitting his racquet all the way to cut under the dipping shuttle and send it in an arc to the back court.

The Chinese were determined to win control of the front court in order to prevent Chirag from devouring them.

However, because they needed to step forward to control the net, they left gaps in the back court.

At pivotal times, Satwik would use his great lobs to leave the Chinese stranded after defensively surviving the storm with low, sideways pickups. He would also tighten his wrist, choose his position on the back court, and guide the shuttle high and deep.

After a 38-shot rally in the second set ended in a 4–4 tie, Chirag took the initiative and began turning even defences into soft, high lifts that were unhittable. Ren Xiang Yu marched forward to cut down Chirag’s angles in the second set, but the Indians had won the first 21-15 with Chirag stomping over in front of the net. When the Indians settled into a lobbing rhythm, the Chinese would take an 11–8 lead.

Chirag and Satwik would both bravely block on either flank, but they would slow down on the high lifts and insist on ballooning the shuttle even when they were instinctively returning, as Chirag had done at 9-11. Later in the set, the Chinese had defeated the Indians, but Satwik-Chirag would strike back with even more ferocity. The Indians even discovered the sideline at 11–12, which resulted in a fruitless review and silenced the clamorous Chinese audience.

Satwik executed a dramatic underhand racquet swing at 13–13, with the same result. By 15–14, the large guy was experimenting with Chinese footwork and showing excellent control over the rainbowing shuttle. On the back-pedal, the Chinese were running late.

As the Indians took a 16–15 lead thanks to a classic, no-nonsense smash, it became apparent how different the team had been playing from their image as obsessive smashers.

The quartet would play the match’s most thrilling rally at 18–17. After tiring of the Chinese resistance, both Indians unleashed a barrage of full-blooded smashes that Ren-He had to duck under to avoid. The rally continued to be highly intense and frantic in pace, and Satwik suddenly launched a peach-sized floating lob into the rooflights to put the Indians ahead 19–17. This pushed the Indians to defend.

After overcoming the flat and crisscross exchanges, the Indians had won the opening set. The Chinese were unable to immediately offset Chirag’s interceptions, but they were able to pin Satwik and force a good number of mistakes.

Chinese defence being tested

The powerful Indian refused to back down, testing Chinese defence awkwardly into the ribcage and around the hips. The Indians’ low defence on both flanks held firm, allowing the Chinese to cut the 11-6 deficit to 12-9 before losing distance to 17-10. With a composed serve, Chirag gave the Indians the lead.

After preserving one match point, the Chinese would use their cross-attack to close the gap and reach 20–20. Chirag, though, managed a drop from the net to make it 21–20. To go to the finals, Satwik would then turn a cross defence into another lob and finish off the harakiri-ing Chinese recover with a whistling smash.

A month and a half ago, in China, Satwik-Chirag gave India its first gold medal at the Asian Games. However, there will be a tougher challenge on Sunday as the Chinese Liang-Wang look to exact revenge for their defeat in the Asiad team event championship.

Despite not having lost a final yet this year, Satwik-Chirag may need to save their best till the very end if they want to defeat the Chinese World No. 1 team. A week after cricket’s Sunday of Hurt, the Shenzhen badminton finals match the best of China and India. It’s not quite the World Cup.

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