Owing to a quirk of scheduling and the nature of their matches on Thursday evening, Sourabh Verma, his younger brother Sameer and Kidambi Srikanth were on the courts at the Siri Fort Stadium at the same time. Srikanth was the first to exit this feature. He endured a brief but torrid 25 minutes on court against Viktor Axelsen -- essentially the top seed -- before losing 7-21, 12-21.
That meant the audience could split their time watching the two brothers and, as is often the case in such matters, compare them. It was the younger brother Sameer who did better, pulling off his second upset in as many days at the India Open. Ranked 39th in the world, Sameer had downed the fourth seed, Son Wan Ho, in round one. He followed it up with a 21-17, 21-15 win against World No. 15 Hu Yun of Hong Kong on Thursday, pumping his fist in exhilaration as he became the sole Indian left in the men's draw. A few minutes earlier his brother had stormed off the court with a cloud above his head as he gave away a 19-16 lead in the decider before losing 19-21, 21-14, 20-22 to World No. 9 Angus Ng Ka Long.
The two Vermas are similar in age -- Sameer, 22, is a couple of years younger than Sourabh -- height and weight. Even their rankings are in the same range -- Sourabh is four ranks below. But in on-court temperament, the two could not be further apart if they had planned it.
Sourabh is cautious. He would rather plot his point out, ensuring he doesn't lose it and wait for his opponent to make a mistake. Sameer, on the other hand, hasn't received a high toss he didn't want to jump at and smash, or gone into a net exchange thinking he would blink first. "Bahut log ne bola hai Sourabh thoda defensive khelta hai (Many people have said that Sourabh plays a bit defensively)," Sameer said later. "He's a calm guy while I'm the more aggressive one."
Sourabh's style works best against an attacking player who lacks consistency. Against a quality player like Angus Ng, the strategy worked for a while. He led consistently for long periods of the game, but his unwillingness to kill points cost him. He did try once when he was leading 16-11 in the first game. His attempt at a cross-court smash floated nearly a foot wide off the tramline. It was obvious how alien this was.
Sameer, whose match started later, had watched his brother's first game before heading for his own pre-match warm-up. "Sourabh aaram aaram se khelta hai (Sourabh plays slowly). He keeps lifting the shuttle," Sameer said in his assessment of his brother's game. There would be little of that when he himself came on court. Sameer's relentlessness paid off as he never let Hu, a former World No. 3, get a foot in the game. The shuttles being particularly fast in this tournament, he hit wide a few times. Srikanth, playing a court away, found it almost impossible to keep the shuttle in. But it was a risk Sameer was willing to take. Indeed, he says it is part of his game. "I can't think that I've to control my strokes so they stay within the lines," he said after the match. "That's hard for me. I'm a confidence player. I've to keep on playing my strokes or I lose confidence."
Of course, Sameer's confidence has only grown over the past few months. He reached the final of the Bitburger Open in Germany in November last year. He then made the final of the Hong Kong Open the same month -- only the third Indian men's singles player to reach that stage of a Superseries event. The new year started with a win at the Syed Modi International. And while the four tournaments he has played since haven't been as fruitful, Sameer is confident about his game. "Over the last four-five months, I've been playing with a lot of confidence," he said. "I've a lot of momentum. I've made a few changes to my game. I'm a little faster and more attacking."
The difference in the brothers' mentality and how it played out on court was most apparent in their final points on Thursday. Sourabh was facing match point, while Sameer had it. In both cases, the point was played at the net. Unwilling to commit to the point, Sourabh tried to clear the shuttle to the back court. Instead, he misjudged the shot and sent it high to the middle of the court -- from where Ng put away an easy smash winner. Sameer, on the other hand, took up the challenge and it was Hu who could dribble only into the net.
On the face of it, Sameer's style appears to be the plan to follow. There's no doubt he will continue in the same vein against Anders Antonsen, his opponent in the quarterfinals. But Sameer believes there is merit in his brother's style, too. Perhaps there is something that he will incorporate in his own game one day. "Perhaps if I could be more calm like Sourabh and if he could be more aggressive like me, then we'd both be a lot more improved players," he said.