Asian Games gold medallist Tai Tzu -- playing for Bengaluru Raptors -- is one of the top global stars taking part in the PBL season 5 which begins here on January with a match between Sindhu's Hyderabad Hunters and Chennai Superstarz
Bengaluru Raptors beat Mumbai Rockets 4-3 to win their maiden Premier Badminton League title.
Saina looked tired in the third and final game and Sindhu dominated the proceedings thereafter as the Commonwealth Games gold medallist struggled to lunge towards her forehand.
Top shuttlers including Olympic medallists PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, world champion Carolina Marin and former world no 1 Victor Axelsen will headline the players' auction.
The Hunters came back into the tie strongly, with their Trump player Lee Hyun Il coming up with a near immaculate game.
Marin, cheered on by a vociferous home crowd, overcame a fighting Sun Ji Hun 13-15, 15-10, 15-9 to dash the hopes of Delhi Dashers in a gripping semifinal.
With Sindhu's victory being in the trump match, the Smashers took a huge lead in the tie after two completed encounters.
In the much-anticipated clash between Sindhu and the world number one Tai Tzi Ying, it was the Indian world number three, who emerged triumphant.
Sameer outplayed the Dashers' Trump player Vincent 15-11, 15-11 to not only fetch the additional point for his team but also pushed the Delhi team into negative territory.
Hyderabad Hunters' star shuttler Carolina Marin justified her World No. 3 billing by defeating Michelle Li 15-9, 15-11.
Awadhe won both their men's singles and mixed doubles to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match duel.
Saina's absence on the inaugural day's match of the PBL meant her high-voltage clash with arch-rival and Chennai Smashers' P V Sindhu could not take place.
Every day there will be one battle between two teams comprising five matches - men's, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Sindhu added that the Premier Badminton League is a great platform for the young Indian shuttlers to rub shoulders with some of the world's best.
Jayaram, who has reached the finals of the PBL consecutively in the past two years with two different teams, will surely look to make it a hat-trick of finals leading his new team to the last stage of the tournament and make their debut season a memo
Nehwal clinched the Malaysia Masters in January, before winning a bronze at the World Championship and Senior Nationals this season.
Prannoy was picked up by Ahmedabad Smash Masters for a whopping price of Rs 62 lakh, while, Awadhe Warriors had to shell out a huge sum of Rs 56.1 lakh to get the services of Srikanth.
Defending champions Chennai Smashers retained Olympic silver medallist and their star shuttler PV Sindhu for a whopping price of Rs 48.75 lakhs in PBL auction on Monday.
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