Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk beat Ajay Jayaram 9-11, 11-7, 11-3 in the last match of the finals to help Chennai Smashers beat Mumbai Rockets 4-3 to be crowned as the champions of the Vodafone Premier Badminton league, powered by Maruti Suzuki, here at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
The win means Chennai pocket a prize purse of Rs 3.5 cr while Mumbai will go home with Rs 2.5 cr.
Ajay who has been one of the best performers for Mumbai during their great run in the tournament started the high-tension clash positively winning the first game 11-9.
Tanongsak made a comeback in the second game and won it 11-7 to send the match into the decider.
In the final game of the match, Tanongsak began on an attacking note and took a 6-3 lead. He maintained his run after the break and won five straight points to win the match and the championship.
Earlier in the day, Chennai Smashers got off to a flying start in the finals as their mixed doubles pair of Gabrielle Adcock/Chris Adcock won their trump match against Nipitphon Puangpuapech/Nadiedza Zeiba. The win saw the Chennai side grab an early lead of 2-0 over Mumbai.
The match started on a pulsating note with both the teams looking pumped and engaged in a fierce battle to assert early dominance. It was a clash of equals and a neck and neck duel with both teams giving good account of themselves in the initial moments of the match. It was the Adcock couple who finally managed to seize the momentum and went into the mid-game break leading 6-5. After the break, they kept on the good work and finally won the game 11-9. In the second game, the duo of Zeiba and Nipitphon started on the aggressive note and were leading 6-4 at the interval. But Gabrielle and Chris bounced back in style and took seven straight points in no time to seal the game and the match 11-6 to earn two points for their team.
in the second match of the tie, P V Sindhu of Smashers and Sung Ji Hyun of Rockets faced off in a blockbuster encounter. Both players came into the match at the back of great wins in the semis. As expected it was a gripping encounter with the both players giving it their all to help their team gain an edge in the tie.
Sindhu got a good start and did not allow Hyun to come near the net as part of a strategy that worked well in her favour. She went into the mid-game break with a lead of 6-4. Sung had a brief surge and erased the deficit before Sindhu broke away to win the game 11-8.
After the change of ends, Hyun took a slender lead of 2-1 but she could not hold on to it and due to a few unforced errors saw Sindhu go 5-2 up. Sung again clawed her way back and made it 5-5 before a smash from Sindhu saw her go into the break leading 6-5. After the break, Sindhu won points regularly to reach match point. Sung saved two match points but Sindhu finally prevailed to win the game 11-8.
With 3-0 down in the tie, it was time for men's doubles action with a must win match for Mumbai as a loss would have brought an end to their campaign. But their pair of Nipithphon Puangpuapech and lee Yong Dae did not fail to deliver and beat the pair of Mads Pieler Kolding and Chris Adcock 12-10, 11-6 to keep them alive in the tie. The match also added two points to Mumbai's account as it was their trump match.
The fourth contest was the men's singles match between H.S Prannoy of Rockets and P Kashyap of Smashers. Prannoy who has been unbeaten in the league so far came in with huge expectations. He won the opening game quite easily 11-4. Kashyap made a strong comeback in the second game to win it 11-8. In the deciding game, it was a close contest and it could have gone either way but Prannoy held on to his nerve to win the game 11-8 and equalize the score 3-3.
It all came down to the final match where Tanongsak faced Jayaram. The Mumbai Rockets’ shuttler entered the break with a 6-4 lead but Saensomboonsuk kept breathing down his neck as he narrowed the deficit to 9-10. But Jayaram came up with a sharp smash on his rival's serve to earn the bragging rights. Saensomboonsuk came back strongly in the second game, moving into a 6-3 lead with a powerful smash. The Thai shuttler maintained his supremacy after the interval and roared back into contest with a smash.
In the third game, Saensomboonsuk once again opened up a 6-3 lead. The Indian sent the shuttle wide twice and then Saensomboonsuk came up with a sharp push at the back of the court to move to a 8-3 lead. The Thailand shuttler finally produced a body smash to reach the match point and sealed the match when the Indian hit wide again.