EXCLUSIVE | 'Yeh dil maange more': Chirag shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy REVEAL success mantra during their historic Thomas Cup win

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated higher-ranked players Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo by 18-21, 23-21, 21-19 in the Thomas Cup finals to give India a crucial 2-0 lead in Thomas Cup final.

Star doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who played a pivotal role in India's historic Thomas Cup triumph, revealed their success mantra in an exclusive interview with Zee News. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated higher-ranked players Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo by 18-21, 23-21, 21-19 in the Thomas Cup finals to give India a crucial 2-0 lead against Indonesia. 

Notably, the world No.8 pair had lost just one match in the Thomas Cup -- against Chinese Taipei and brought India back into the contest after initial reversals against Malaysia and Denmark in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Meanwhile, talking exclusively to Zee News, the star Indian badminton pair revealed that their mentality was 'to go all in' in the tournament and after winning the quarterfinals against Malaysia, they were like "Ye dil mange more".

"We played quarter-finals in the last tournament (Thomas Cup), so last time also we had the chance. This time when the draw came in and we saw we are playing Chinese Taipei, South Korea and Canada, we thought if we can pull it 2 wins out of the 3, we can enter the quarter-finals, so that was step 1," Sattwick told Zee News.

"...and when we got into quarters, so our mentality was like we have to go all in. 'Kal jo hoga vo hone de' and we went all in because we had to give our best shot. After the win over Malaysia, we thought this is just getting better and better. It was like 'Ye Dil mange more', we knew Prannoy bhaiya could also win and we went all in after the quarters."

When asked how did the boys celebrate their historic victory, Chirag said, "We are still celebrating! After the victory, we clicked pictures for more than 2 hours, everyone wanted a picture with partners, trophy and in different poses. After that, we went out for dinner, with all the teammates and support staff. I remember Arjun joking about one thing that, what if this is not true and it's just a dream. Because it was hard to believe that we actually finished on that podium and received the winning medals."

Watch the full interview HERE to know more