How Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty subdued fiery Malaysian pair, despite uncomfortable tactics and hostile home crowd | Badminton News

At 15-15 in the opening set, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy leapt in the air and slam-dunked what could be called a yorker-smash, right on Ong Yew Sin’s toes to go up 16-15. Jasprit Bumrah or Zaheer Khan would’ve been proud. Chirag Shetty was ecstatic.It felt like the best of old times. When unhindered, smashing aggression brought them a barrage of such offensive points scaring away opponents. Except, the top Malaysian doubles pairings, had wriggled out a lethal counter: they offered no lifts to the Indians and kept things flat, fast, furious and uncomfortable.
It had brought Aaron-Soh the Olympic medal at the Indian’s expense. Six months on, Ong-Teo were revelling in the same tactic, without Aaron Chia’s poise or perfection, but being a pain in Indian necks anyway.

Quarterfinal clash sees Rankireddy/Shetty 🇮🇳 rival home pair Ong/Teo 🇲🇾.#BWFWorldTour #MalaysiaOpen2025 pic.twitter.com/Pp35h3XAgr
— BWF (@bwfmedia) January 10, 2025
Through terrible nerves, a hugely hostile Malaysian crowd and highly pesky opponents, where the style of play was dictated Ong-Teo, the Indians emerged with a confidence-coating 26-24, 21-15 win to reach the semifinals.
Make no make, Koreans Seo Syeung-jae and Kim Won-ho will pose tougher questions on Saturday, and will not get carried away the drama and delirium of a highly-charged contest. The Koreans only have 52 matches together, but Seo has more variations than SEOs at media houses have suggestions. His head is a bag of tricks, which the limbs obediently execute. But the Malaysians, ranked 24, pushed the Indians enough to get them on their toes.
Vertical swamp
It was worse. They were pushed on their heels rather as both Satwik and Chirag, 184 and 186 cm, were forced to hunker down and defend and parry off the flat, fast drives. On the whole it was a terrible day to be a tall man. They repeatedly got called for high serves, and their rantings to chair umpire fired up the local crowd even more than usual.
But the Indians did not run away from the challenge of playing the fast, flat game that’s not to their liking. Eventually, their persence on getting on with it saw the Malaysians get frustrated, as in trying to keep the shuttle as low and near the net as possible with their slappy pushes, they ended up with net errors. The takeaway was that ‘playing to your strengths’ (read: attack) doesn’t quite work if opponents do their job of not allowing you to have it your way.
But the first set was a rollercoaster even without the minutiae of preferred styles. To start at that perfect point of 16-15, where Satwik-Chirag were keeping things compact, in control and vertically charged. But the Malaysians went slant edged and diagonal with flat crosses, keeping the Indians perturbed and panicky.
From 19-16 up, Satwik picked a service fault and grimaced. The Malaysians were at their collar when Teo sent a flick serve looping over their heads. Chirag asked if there was a side–side delay, and was met with boos from the crowd. They got to set point with an angry down smash from Chirag, but the next two points were gone to frisky net returns dumped in the meshing and a reflex that flew long. 20-21.
Chirag was a complete nervous chicken in the next point, but implausibly his flayed-limbed crab-defense, the most uncontrolled return he might’ve ever made, perfectly looped over the net. 21-all.
The crowds were loudest now, as the Axiata Arena heaved. Next, Satwik botched a net push, but Teo erred too, in the flurry of exchanges. The Indians saved 4 set points, embroiled in that net cauldron, though they found a perfect 1-2 smash routine at 23-all.
Crucial point
Ironically, just as the commentators were discussing the Indian vulnerability against serve variations, notably the tumble, Chirag pulled out the most crucial drive-serve to take the lead and second set point after 20-19, at 25-24. Satwik stayed committed one shot longer to the flat exchange when he could’ve killed the bird, and then rose high to smash at second chance.
That 26-24 will perhaps get forgotten as the hustle bustle of 2025 takes over. But it was an important lead–forced to play an excruciating style, the Indians hung on. And won.
Typically the second set against this wildly volatile Malaysian pair, would head off in one direction. The home pair led 9-6, as the Indians accumulated all manners of net makes and serving violations. But from 8-10 to 11-11, the Indians got going in unleashing body-attacks even from hand-combat dance.
Plenty of drama unfolded. The Indians were infuriating the crowd questioning the service faults, coach Tan Kim Her, a Malaysian himself, almost leapt out his seat chattering instructions to Indians, and was scolded. Then Ong deflected a body attack onto Teo sideways, and the shuttle crashed into his chest, as he made the face of a hanged man. The two kept bickering intermittently, but finally got so carried away the crowd booming that they overdid the flat, net-kissing returns.
All the Indians had to do was swamp Ong-Teo with speed, and their net errors piled up as they fell apart. The Indians won 26-24, 21-15 and all this happened in 48 frenzied minutes where Satwik said they stayed really positive till the end, taking one point at a time.

Chirag offered a professional, poised take. “As athletes, these are the stadia you want to play at. You want to play at packed arenas in the closing crucial stages of the tournament. We couldn’t have asked for a better crowd although they would obviously support the local pair. But as a professional athlete, it is one of the best stadiums to play at,” he said.
Satwik kept it simple. “They will support us tomorrow,” he coolly declared, reading the boom.

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