India Inches Closer to Quarters with Win over England
Defending champions India took another step towards repeating their success from 2022 after defeating England in their second group match of the Thomas Cup on Monday. HS Prannoy started the proceedings for India with a straight games win over Harry Huang. World No. 3 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were then made to work hard in their match against Ben Lane and Sean Vendy but prevailed in three games.
With Lakshya Sen given a rest, Kidambi Srikanth stepped up and sealed the tie for India with a comfortable straight games victory against Nadeem Dalvi. The second doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila wrapped up the tie with another straight games success over Rory Easton and Alex Green.
The win ensured India got closer to qualifying for the quarterfinals from Group C. A strong performance from Indonesia against Thailand earlier in the day meant both the 2022 finalists became the first teams to book their places in the last-eight from what was considered the tough group.
India will now look to finish as group winners when they take on Indonesia in their final group match on Wednesday. The defending champions will be heading into that clash high on confidence after flexing their squad depth against England to maintain their unbeaten start in Chengdu.
