IBL: Pune Pistons’ Sourabh Varma stuns Banga Beats’ Parupalli Kashyap

Zee Media Bureau/Suyash Srivastava

Pune: In what was the upset of the tournament, Pune Pistons’ Sourabh Varma bounced back to stun Banga Beats’ star player Parupalli Kashyap 19-21, 21-18, 11-4 on Friday in the Indian Badminton League. The first game was a closely fought contest where both the players gave their best, but Kashyap edged his opponent on the basis of his experience. In the second game, Varma showed a more determined approach where he involved Kashyap in more rallies, a move that worked in his favour. In the decider, Kashyap made too many unforced errors and Varma comprehensively won the game 11-4. Varma was leading 9-3 in the decider after which Kashyap saved a match point but Varma went on to win the next two points to seal the match. Pune Pistons were playing in front of their home crowd where they won four successive matches against Banga Beats. Sourabh Verma thanked the spectators who had come in huge numbers to support their team. “Thank you crowd for supporting me, thank you so much,” he said. Earlier in the day, Anup Sridhar got Pune Pistons to a great start against Banga Betas when he defeated Hu Yun in the first men`s singles to give Pune a 1-0 lead. World number three Juliane Schenk put it across Carolina Marin 21-20, 21-10 in the women`s singles to take Pune to a commanding position.