Indian men's badminton team create history, clinch maiden Thomas Cup title after thrashing Indonesia

Indian men's badminton team created history as they thrashed Indonesia 3-0 on Sunday (May 15) to clinch their maiden Thomas Cup title. The experienced Kidambi Srikanth came up with a memorable performance against Jonatan Christie to stun him in straight sets in the third game to seal a dominant 3-0 win for India in the final of the Thomas Cup 2022.

While Srikanth and Laskhya Sen won their respective singles matches, the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their doubles match to hand India a clinical 3-0 win in the final against Indonesia at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lakshya was up against Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Anthony Ginting in the first game. He was absolutely outplayed by the Indonesian in the first game as Ginting won the first game 21-8 before Lakshya produced an incredible fightback to win the second game 21-17 to force the contest into a decider.

Lakshya brought out his best in the third and final game as he outclassed Ginting 21-16 to win his match and give India a 1-0 lead in the final. India's second game in the final was arguable the toughest of the lot as the doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag was up againstMuhammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.

The Indian duo startedthe match on a terrific note, taking an early leadin the first game against theseasoned Indonesian pair. However, Ahasan andSukamuljo soon displayed their class and managed to take the first game 18-21. Satwik and Chirag were dominated by the Indonesian pair once again in the second game.

Ahsan andSukamuljo came close to clinching the second game in a row but Satwik and Chirag pulled off a comeback for the ages to take the game 23-21. They then went on to win the decisive third set 21-19 to record the most impressive win of their careers and extended India's lead to 2-0 in the final.

Srikanth locked horns with Christie in the third game of the final with the title on the line. The Indian had lost against the Indonesia the last time they came up against each other. However, Srikanth was on a roll in the final on Sunday as he wrapped up the first game of the second singles match 21-15 to put India on the verge of a historic win.

Sikanth was brilliant in the second game as well as he led Chrsitoe 11-8 at the interval. It was a hard-fought battle between the two shuttlers but Srikanth prevailed over the Indonesian as he won the second game 23-21 to beat Chrsitie and power India to their maiden Thomas Cup title in the 73-year-long history of the tournament.

No Indian team had previously managed to reach the final of the prestigious tournament. But the Indian men's team spearheaded by Srikanth and Lakshya scripted history in Bangkok this year.

The magnitude of the title victory can be adjudged from the fact that Indian badminton great and former national coach Pullela Gopichand had compared the men's team reaching Thomas Cup final to Kapil Dev-led India winning the country's maiden cricket World Cup crown in 1983.