You wait for something for so long, and then it happens not once but repeatedly in quick succession. Like London buses, as the saying goes, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik for the third straight time after 8 consecutive losses. The second-seeded Indians defeated the Malaysians 21-18, 21-14 in 45 minutes to reach their second straight final on the BWF World Tour this year at the IG Stadium for the India Open.

As a result of the win, Satwik and Chirag are set to return to the top of the world rankings in next week’s update as defending champions Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, currently occupying that spot, lost earlier in the event.

The match was set up beautifully in terms of context. After having lost 8 straight matches against the Malaysians, the Indian duo had won the last two, with the help of tactical tweaks from coach Mathias Boe. Both those wins came under significant situations as well. First at the Indonesia Open final, as Satwik-Chirag clinched their first Super 1000. The second one was at the Asian Games semifinal, that helped Satwik-Chirag create history in Hangzhou by becoming India’s first badminton gold medallists at the event.

#IndiaOpen2024 #IndiaOpenSuper750

Here’s the video. Nice embrace at the net followed by some fun celebrations for Satwik-Chirag. No surprises that Satwik broke into a dance. ????https://t.co/FXqFWLA1Px pic.twitter.com/8APFfFxCfz

— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 20, 2024

Chia and Soh, for their part, had a point to prove that the tide hadn’t turned decisively in favour of the Indians. But on the evidence of what transpired in Delhi on Friday, the Indians have truly found their groove against the current world No 4.

“People used to say, we never won against them after seven or eight meetings,” Satwik told reporters after the match. “I used to feel then, ‘it’s ok we might lose 10 times or 100 times also but at least one time we will win.’ Once we crossed that border for the first time, then I knew there wouldn’t be any fear for us, we can beat them anytime. It took us a while to cross that line. When it matters really, it has happened. Indonesia, Asian Games, and today.”

It was a neck-and-neck start to the match as the two pairs kept at each other from the word go. Every Indian point was cheered on loudly by the fans who had stayed back late in good numbers for the match that started beyond 10 pm. The roof had a proverbial lift-off for the first time when Satwik-Chirag won a fabulous rally to make it 8-8.

That moment when SatChi entered their 2️⃣nd #YonexSunriseIndiaOpen final in jam-packed IG Stadium ????????????????#YonexSunriseIndiaOpen2024 #IndiaKaSmashMania#BWFWorldTourSuper750#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/oQXhqxH6Ue

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) January 20, 2024

The lead kept changing hands throughout the opening game. So many doubles matches at the highest level get decided in the last few points of a game. And so the Indians pulled ahead from 17-17 to take the lead.

“Going into the match we knew it was going to be tough, because we have had some really close games in the past,” Chirag said, identifying that as the turning point. “Likewise, it was close until 17-all in the first, it was anybody’s game. We could have been a little calmer probably earlier, but at that point, we got it back and eventually won it. The second game started a bit slow but eventually got our rhythm back.”

Indeed, Chia-Soh are one of the best pairs in the world in transitioning between offence and defence, and they showed up early in Game 2, leading 13-10 at one point. A kill-shot from Chirag at the net to make it 13-13 hit Chia flush on the face near his eye, and it caused a significant pause in the proceedings as the Malaysian received treatment while looking a bit shaken.

Once again, that would be a turning point as Satwik-Chirag went on to win 8 out of the next 9 points to celebrate another famous win.

“To beat these guys, we need to be good in defence, it can’t be always all-attack. We have been working on it with Boe for a while now. We are used to it now,” Satwik said. Chirag added that it was pleasing to see the number of fans who had stayed back to cheer them on: “Crowd was tremendous, staying late in the night, it requires a strong motivation. For us, it feels really special. Hope to see many more on Sunday.”

Now their focus will firmly be on Sunday when they take on World Champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae. The Koreans prevented a reunion for Satwik-Chirag with their former mentor Tan Kim Her, defeating Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi. Satwik and Chirag have won the last three meetings against the current world No 3 duo, including a an epic comeback win last week in Kuala Lumpur.

On Tuesday, they will be world No 1 for the second time. But they have maintained repeatedly that rankings are secondary. As Chirag said, “We have never really given too much importance to rankings, it keeps changing often. We aim for titles. That’s our goal always.”