2017–18 Premier Badminton League
# 2017–18 Premier Badminton League

2017–18 Premier Badminton League (also known as Vodafone PBL for sponsorship reasons) was the third edition of Premier Badminton League. It started on 23 December 2017 and concluded on 14 January 2018. It consisted of 20 league ties (each tie consisting of 5 matches) with the top four teams progressing to the knock out stages. The season featured two new teams – Ahmedabad Smash Masters and North Eastern Warriors – bringing the total to eight competing teams. Also, the Delhi team previously known as Delhi Acers will feature as Delhi Dashers.

Hyderabad Hunters were crowned the champions after they beat Bengaluru Blasters 4 - 3 in the final tie.

## Squads

| Ahmedabad Smash Masters | Awadhe Warriors | Bengaluru Blasters | Chennai Smashers |
| - | - | - | - |
| H. S. Prannoy | Saina Nehwal | Viktor Axelsen | P. V. Sindhu |
| K. Nandagopal | Christinna Pedersen | Chong Wei Feng | Aditya Joshi |
| Kamilla Rytter Juhl | Harshit Aggarwal | Kim Sa-rang | B. Sumeeth Reddy |
| Tai Tzu-ying | Hendra Setiawan | Kirsty Gilmour | Brice Leverdez |
| Lee Chun Hei | Srikanth Kidambi | Manu Attri | Chris Adcock |
| Siril Verma | Mahima Aggarwal | Mathias Boe | Daniel Farid |
| Sourabh Varma | Or Chin Chung | N. Sikki Reddy | Gabby Adcock |
| Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli | Parupalli Kashyap | Rituparna Das | Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk |
| Stefani Stoeva | Sai Uttejita Rao Chukka | Sanjana Santosh | Vrushali Gummadi |
| Law Cheuk Him | Tang Chun Man | Subhankar Dey | Lee Yang |
| Delhi Dashers | Hyderabad Hunters | Mumbai Rockets | North Eastern Warriors |
| Sung Ji-hyun | Carolina Marín | Son Wan-ho | Wang Tzu-wei |
| Arathi Sara Sunil | Anoushka Parikh | Arjun M.R. | Ajay Jayaram |
| Ashwini Ponnappa | B. Sai Praneeth | Zhang Beiwen | Chirag Shetty |
| Ivan Sozonov | Lee Hyun-il | Tan Boon Heong | Gadde Ruthvika Shivani |
| Pranav Chopra | Markis Kido | Gabriela Stoeva | Kim Gi-jung |
| Gurusai Dutt | Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth | Tarun Kona | Michelle Li |
| Shreyanshi Pardeshi | Rahul Yadav Chittaboina | Kuhoo Garg | Prajakta Sawant |
| Tian Houwei | Rasika Raje | Lee Yong-dae | Pratul Joshi |
| Vladimir Ivanov | Satwiksairaj Rankireddy | Sameer Verma | Sanyogita Ghorpade |
| Wong Wing Ki | Yoo Yeon-seong | Sanyam Shukla | Shin Baek-cheol |

## Points table

| Team | TP | RMW | RML | TMW | TML | Pts. |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Hyderabad Hunters | 5 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 20 |
| Ahmedabad Smash Masters | 5 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| Delhi Dashers | 5 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| Bengaluru Blasters | 5 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Awadhe Warriors | 5 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| Chennai Smashers | 5 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| North Eastern Warriors | 5 | 5 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| Mumbai Rockets | 5 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 10 |

* Qualified for knockouts
* Five matches will be played in each tie (TP)
* 1 point for each Regular Match Won (RMW)
* 0 points for Regular Matches Lost (RML)
* 2 points for each Trump Match Won (TMW)
* -1 point for each Trump Match Lost (TML)

Source: Official PBL website

## Fixtures

### League stage

| Date | Venue | Team 1 | Result | Team 2 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 23 Dec | Guwahati | Chennai Smashers | 3 - 4 | Awadhe Warriors |
| 24 Dec | Guwahati | North Eastern Warriors | 2 - 5 | Hyderabad Hunters |
| 25 Dec | Guwahati | Delhi Dashers | 1 - 4 | Mumbai Rockets |
| 26 Dec | Guwahati | North Eastern Warriors | 3 - 4 | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| 27 Dec | New Delhi | Chennai Smashers | 4 - 3 | Mumbai Rockets |
| 28 Dec | New Delhi | Delhi Dashers | 2 - 5 | Bengaluru Blasters |
| 29 Dec | New Delhi | Ahmedabad Smash Masters | 4 - 3 | Hyderabad Hunters |
| 30 Dec | New Delhi | North Eastern Warriors | 3 - 4 | Awadhe Warriors |
| 31 Dec | New Delhi | Delhi Dashers | 5 - 0 | Hyderabad Hunters |
| 1 Jan | Lucknow | Bengaluru Blasters | 6 - (-1) | Mumbai Rockets |
| 2 Jan | Lucknow | Awadhe Warriors | 4 - 3 | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| 3 Jan | Lucknow | Chennai Smashers | 0 - 3 | Delhi Dashers |
| 4 Jan | Lucknow | Awadhe Warriors | 1 - 4 | Mumbai Rockets |
| 5 Jan | Chennai | Bengaluru Blasters | 2 - 3 | North Eastern Warriors |
| 6 Jan | Chennai | Chennai Smashers | 2 - 1 | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| 7 Jan | Chennai | Hyderabad Hunters | 6 - (-1) | Awadhe Warriors |
| 8 Jan | Chennai | Chennai Smashers | 3 - 2 | Bengaluru Blasters |
| 9 Jan | Chennai | Mumbai Rockets | 0 - 5 | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| 10 Jan | Hyderabad | Delhi Dashers | 4 - 1 | North Eastern Warriors |
| 11 Jan | Hyderabad | Hyderabad Hunters | 6 - (-1) | Bengaluru Blasters |
| Semi-finals |||||
| 12 Jan | Hyderabad | Hyderabad Hunters | 3 - 0 | Delhi Dashers |
| 13 Jan | Hyderabad | Bengaluru Blasters | 4 - 3 | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| Finals |||||
| 14 Jan | Hyderabad | Hyderabad Hunters | 4 - 3 | Bengaluru Blasters |

Source: Official PBL website

### Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - |
| 12 January | 12 January |
| Hyderabad Hunters | 3 |
| Hyderabad Hunters | 3 | 14 January | 14 January |
| Delhi Dashers | 0 | 14 January | 14 January |
| Delhi Dashers | 0 | Hyderabad Hunters | 4 |
| 13 January | 13 January | | Hyderabad Hunters | 4 |
| 13 January | 13 January | Bengaluru Blasters | 3 |
| Bengaluru Blasters | 4 | Bengaluru Blasters | 3 |
| Ahmedabad Smash Masters | 3 | | |

Semifinal 1 :

| Hyderabad Hunters | Bernadeth, Rankireddy | 15 - 13, 10 - 15, 10 - 15 $^{(MixedDoubles)}$ | Ponnappa, Ivanov | Delhi Dashers |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Praneeth | 15 - 9, 15 - 8 $^{(Men'sSingles)}$ | Houwei $^{(TrumpMatch)}$ | Delhi Dashers |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Marin $^{(TrumpMatch)}$ | 12 - 15, 15 - 11, 15 - 9 $^{(Women'sSingles)}$ | Hyun | Delhi Dashers |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Kido, Seong | – $^{(Men'sDoubles)}$ | Sozonov, Ivanov | Delhi Dashers |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Lee Hyun-Il | – $^{(Men'sSingles)}$ | Gurusaidutt | Delhi Dashers |

Semifinal 2 :

| Bengaluru Blasters | Feng | 2 - 15, 15 - 14, 10 - 15 $^{(Men'sSingles)}$ | Verma | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Bengaluru Blasters | Rang, Boe $^{(TrumpMatch)}$ | 15 - 13, 15 - 12 $^{(Men'sDoubles)}$ | Reginald, Nandagopal | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| Bengaluru Blasters | Gilmour | 15 - 8, 13 - 15, 8 - 15 $^{(Women'sSingles)}$ | Tai $^{(TrumpMatch)}$ | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| Bengaluru Blasters | Axelsen | 15 - 11, 15 - 14 $^{(Men'sSingles)}$ | Prannoy | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |
| Bengaluru Blasters | Rang, Reddy | 15 - 12, 13 - 15, 15 - 9 $^{(MixedDoubles)}$ | Him, Juhl | Ahmedabad Smash Masters |

Final :

| Hyderabad Hunters | Kido, Seong | 9 - 15, 10 - 15 $^{(Men'sDoubles)}$ | Boe, Rang | Bengaluru Blasters |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Lee Hyun-Il $^{(TrumpMatch)}$ | 15 - 7, 15 - 13 $^{(Men'sSingles)}$ | Dey | Bengaluru Blasters |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Praneeth | 8 - 15, 10 - 15 $^{(Men'sSingles)}$ | Axelsen $^{(TrumpMatch)}$ | Bengaluru Blasters |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Marin | 15 - 8, 15 - 14 $^{(Women'sSingles)}$ | Gilmour | Bengaluru Blasters |
| Hyderabad Hunters | Bernadeth, Rankireddy | 15 - 11, 15 - 12 $^{(MixedDoubles)}$ | Rang, Reddy | Bengaluru Blasters |
