A month since that racquet was halved like a twig in anger, Ayush Shetty is in the finals of the Badminton Asia Championships, after defeating the most talented contemporary player and Wotld No 1, Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Ayush started sluggish to lose the opening set 10-21 and the Thai would’ve believed he was on his way to the final. But the 20-year-old Indian sensationally turned things around to win the next two sets 21-19, 21-17, and became the first Indian since Dinesh Khanna in 1965, to reach the BAC finals.

If the down spiral had started at Australia, where he lost to Sen, the comeback happened at a similar stage – with almost the same situation he found himself leading the second set at 20-19. Back then with a back that was shot, he had checked his arm, held back a smash and played a lame drop. On Saturday at Ningbo, playing the World No 1 former world champion, he banged it straight down without a thought or a doubt.

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Kunlavut with his fluid sideways footwork, anticipation and foot speed is a difficult opponent to get past. But the Indian was fearless with his forehand cross court smash that he plays from the deep corner, and yet gets depth that is pristine power. But having beaten World Nos 7 Li Shifeng, No 4 Jonatan Christie besides No 20, Ayush simply had the belief that he belonged amongst the top names, and that he had to get it done, right this moment. A 10-21 first set setback was treated like a mere warm up to get into rhythm.

Kunlavut, lulled into a feeling of dominance, had gone down 1-7 in the second with a bunch of unforced errors as Ayush made him lunge on the forehand forecourt side – a teeniest of his weaknesses. The Thai was also finding his lifts drift long. That was all that Ayush needed as he made the Thai twist and turn to both flanks at high intensity and drew out errors to lead 13-7.

Kunlavut narrowed the gap to 11-13, but once again, the Indian had that booming weapon of a crosscourt smash that made it 14-11. What power like that does is deflate the opponent convincing him that he might play his heart out, but one well-timed smash can stub him into an ashtray. But Ayush was also prepared for the long rallies. Coach Sagar Chopda says, “At one point we thought he would start cramping but not only was he ready for long rallies, but also winning them,” he said. Finishing with that A-Smash.

The start of this season with first round exits had happened concurrently with Ayush doing the rounds of a back specialist and getting things sorted medically. He was categorically told that he had to manage the injury with conditioning. He had a 45 minute pre-warmup to his 1 hour warm-up, for mobility and muscle activations. It’s why he was not shying away for the second set long rallies.

Still, Kunlavut came from 12-16 down to 18-20 aided by 340 kph smashes of his own on 14-18. Just a point ago, both players had cannonballed monster shots from all corners which madevthis is a high quality contest. Their defending was invisible given the bombast, but it sapped energies, before Ayush prevailed.

Perhaps what got the Chinese full-house whooping (Ayush must’ve added plenty of Chinese fans today), was when he played a jump smash from a near 8 foot flying vantage and then rushed the net for a backhand scythe followup, just like Kidambi Srikanth used to when he defeated Lin Dan for the China Open. To win the set from 20-19, he ofcourse played the glorious unchecked straight smash.

The third set saw Ayush ride the momentum as Kunlavut was broken in the mind, acutely aware of this attacking rampage. 7-2 became 11-7 as the realisation hit that Ayush will stick it out and stomp his way off. The beauty of the decider was that Kunlavut is known for his masterful deception at the net. “We had all discussed how Kunlavut will play those net tricks, keeps and pushes. Ayush in fact seemed like he was waiting for some of those shots.” By 17-10, the writing was on the wall, and Kunlavut was netting putaway smashes with a wry smile of resignation.

Even as a junior, Ayush was known to bustle when he knew he was playing a higher ranked player. “He has always looked forward to playing bigger players in rankings. He doesn’t shy away from the big names or look for easy draws. He’d enjoying tougher matches, one after another,” Chopda says.

After a brief lull, India finally has a player who doesn’t grimace at a tough draw, and can string together 5 tough matches in a week, that revives title dreams. Just like with Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth, Satwik-Chirag, suddenly beating anyone seems possible again.