Fun With Numbers: What went wrong for Kidambi Srikanth in 2018?

World No 8 and Indian badminton sensation Kidambi Srikanth had a mixed 2018 in terms of performance. He took part in 16 tournaments in which he reached 11 knockout rounds and on seven occasions, he was eliminated in the initial stages of the tournament. While he was unable to win any tournament this year, he went on to reach the final of 2018 Commonwealth Games where he lost to Lee Chong Wei. Let's look at his performance this year: Srikanth in every tournament starts positively as he knocks out his opponent in all the first round games. He has 100% win record in the first round and finishes the match in quick time as his average stay on the court is only 36 minutes and 64 seconds.

Also Read: What does one make of Kidambi Srikanth's repeated losses? But in the second and third rounds of the tournament, he lost 5 matches and won 11 matches in 2018. The main point to be looked at is his average time spent on court increases by 12 minutes to defeat his opponent. In knockout rounds, he had failed to make his mark throughout the year. 50% of his wins on the big stage were one of the reasons behind him failing to capitalize on the weakness of the opposition. Also, compared to round robin stage, he had to be on the court for approximately 9 to 10 minutes more.

Kidambi Srikanth has also played 52 matches in 2018 with a better win/loss record of 36-16, against tougher opposition, but has featured in only 10 world tour events. He reached the semis of the Denmark and Malaysia Opens (both Super 750 events) besides featuring in 5 other quarter-finals including the China Open Super 1000 and the remaining three Super 750 events.

It is probably about time that Srikanth gets his momentum back in 2019 similar to how he played in 2017 and has another glorious year ahead.