India’s reigning table tennis queen Manika Batra cannot hide her excitement at playing in her hometown New Delhi, when the CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis Powered by Kellogg’s bandwagon rolls into the Capital on Wednesday.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games double-gold medallist is already on a high with superb performances for Dabang Smashers, who have rocketed to the top of the six-team table with two massive victories in the Pune leg. The 23-year-old is aiming to extend her winning ways when she steps up to the table against RP-SG Mavericks at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex in the first match of the Delhi leg tomorrow.

Manika’s world ranking of 80 is not a true reflection of her abilities, at least in this event, as she has upstaged World No.15 Sofia Polcanova (Empowerji Challengers) and World No 30. Matilda Ekholm (Falcons TTC). She believes the fans, who turned up in thousands at the Shiv Chhatrapati Complex in Balewadi played a part and is expecting many more in Delhi to cheer her and the Smashers.

“Crowd support has been fantastic, and it has boosted my confidence. I think the pressure is more on my opponents when I’m playing in India,” she said. “I am very excited to play in Delhi and I am hoping there will be lot of support from my hometown fans. We are keen on a strong display against the Mavericks.”

She went on to reveal that she has been working on her skill-set to unsettle her rivals. “After my success at the Commonwealth Games, I know lot of people will be watching my game closely. So, I have been fine tuning my skills to confuse them,” she said with a mischievous smile.

The Smashers captain Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, India’s highest ranked player (World No. 44), has been another star performer for the team winning all the matches (two mixed doubles and two singles) he has played so far this season. Incidentally, he has not lost a singles match since last season. The face their stiffest test yet as they run into the only other team with an all-win record, Mavericks.

Smashers’ victory margins have been the biggest of the season —  14-7 over Warriors and 17-4 against defending champions Falcons — but more importantly they have won 12 of their 14 matches from the two ties. Mavericks are not far behind, defeating last’s year’s finalists Challengers 13-8 and then Maharashtra Utd. 11-10.

Interestingly, Mavericks too have an inspirational Indian player in Ahyika Mukherjee, ranked World No. 124, who has punched way above her weight by shocking World No. 20 Lee Ho Ching (Challengers) and World No. 56 Lily Zhang (Maharashtra United). They also have the highest ranked woman player of the event, World No. 13 Doo Hoi Kem (Hong Kong), on their roster apart from the tenacious German Sabine Winter (World No. 60), who has logged two fluent 3-0 victories.

The 21-year-old Ayhika, featuring in the CEAT UTT for the first time, is enjoying her success and is keen on building upon it. “I have won against world ranked players earlier but defeating two higher ranked players is a new high,” she says.

On her strategy for the upcoming tie against Smashers, Ayhika is intent on keeping her cards close to the chest. “Strategies should only be revealed at the table,” she says, adding, “I enjoy each point and always try to give my best without thinking about the ultimate outcome of the match.”

The clash of this season’s top teams is expected to be a cracker, paving way for a grand opening of the Delhi leg.

Date: June 20, 2018 (Wednesday)

Venue: Thyagaraj Sports Complex, Delhi

Head to head: Matches played 1, Mavericks 1, Smashers won 0

Points in Season 2: Smashers 31, Mavericks 24. Matches win-loss record: Smashers 14-2, Mavericks 9-5

Players to watch out

Men: G Sathiyan (World No 44), Yoshida Masaki (World No. 27), Mattias Karlsson, World No 20, Harmeet Desai.

Women: Manika Batra (World No. 80), Sakura Mori (World No. 28), Adriana Diaz (World No. 38), Doo Hoi Kem, World No. 13, Ayhika Mukherjee.

Dabang Smashers TTC:  Men: Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, Sanish Ambekar, Yoshida Masaki (Japan), Cedric Nuytinck (Belgium) World No. 52. Women: Manika Batra, Archana Kamath (U18 World No. 12), Sakura Mori (Japan), Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico). Coaches: Sachin Shetty, Andrei Filimon (Romania).

RP-SG Mavericks: Men: Mattias Karlsson (Sweden), Harmeet Desai, Kou Lei (Ukraine) World No33, Siddhesh Pande. Women: Doo Hoi Kem (Hong Kong), Ayhika Mukherjee, Mouma Das, Sabine Winter (Germany) World No60. Coaches: Arup Basak, Elena Timina.