Opinion Indian Badminton League: A rivalry that is too young to call

It’s wickedly tempting to declare,after the World Championships bronze,that Sindhu has arrived and nudged Saina off her pedestal,for she’s managed to do what Nehwal couldn’t in four outings. Equally valid was to watch the two girls battle a week later at Siri Fort and lean towards the Olympic bronze medallist as she punctured Sindhu’s second-set resistance in their first ever face-off.

The fickle mind also allows for creeping doubts about Sindhu’s long-term viability as soon as she suffers reverses against the likes of Carolina Marin in the IBL even as Nehwal soaks in the roaring cheers of six cities and goes around bossing Julianne Schenk — the way she did in Mumbai — to mark her territory as India’s best shuttler.

A head-to-head may count for something only after they’ve played multiple matches — domestic or internationally — against each other. What emerges from the first week of this rivalry is that their performance heavily,if not entirely,depends on their match fitness and physical conditioning on the day.

Nehwal was moving like a dream when she took on the hard-nosed Schenk. Feeding off the home crowd,Nehwal upped her own aggression and counter-punched when put under pressure. Contrast that with Sindhu’s tame submissions in her IBL games so far — how she slumped even against Nehwal — and you see remnants of an exhausting World Championship campaign.

A straight answer to ‘who’s better’ then,is unlikely to show up on any wall mirrors. Recovery after a match,core conditioning going into a tournament,sharpness on court and fresher legs on that day will count as much as relative talent,skill and deception for the two Gopichand products in answering that premature question.

Shivani is an assistant editor based in Mumbai shivani.naik@expressindia.com