Stats: How does Kidambi Srikanth fare against the top 10 shuttlers

Kidambi Srikanth needs to attain more consistency in his results

India’s highest ranked Men’s Singles player Kidambi Srikanth has had an on-and-off year. The 22-year-old shuttler, who is currently ranked 5^th in the world, started the year 2015 with a bang, becoming the first Indian to win the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and then winning the India Open Grand Prix Gold, beating Denmark’s Viktor Axelson on both occasions in the summit clash.

But following the triumph, the Indian hasn't quite maintained the desired level of consistency in the remaining competitions and while there is no serious threat to his Olympics qualifications for the moment, picking up the winning momentum at the right time would be vital for him to attain peak form at the time of sporting extravaganza in Rio next year.

A look at how the Indian stacks up against the best in the world gives us a clearer idea of the work he has ahead of him. Against World No.1 and 2012 Olympics bronze medalist Chen Long, The shuttler has a 0-3 head-to-head record having lost to him last year in all their meetings.

Srikanth has played the second-ranked also thrice and has won once, the win coming at the India Open in 2013. He fares the same against reigning Olympic champion and World No.3 Lin Dan, whom he historically defeated at the China Open in 2014, but has lost both his matches against him prior to that.

Srikanth has a 50-50 record against World No.4 Kento Momota whom he has beaten thrice in the six encounters between the two. The last meeting saw the former come out trumps in three hard-fought games at the India Open.

In his only meeting against World No.6 Chou Tien Chen, Srikanth had to earn yet another hard-fought victory at the Hong Kong Open in 2014.

Though a short sample size to judge, but the Indian has had a very good time while playing Denmark’s Viktor Axelson whom he has defeated on both occasions that they have met on the court.

When he played against fellow countrymen and World No.8 Parupalli Kashyap recently at the Japan Open Superseries, it was only his second meeting against him and it was also his second loss to Kashyap in as many games.

Srikanth has a poor record against World No.9 Tian Houwei of China and in 6 encounters against World No.10 Son Wan Ho has lost on 4 occasions and won just twice.

The above scorelines with other players in the top 10 indicates that Srikanth has a lot of work ahead of him, particularly against the Chinses players against whom he has won just the solitary match.

The Denmark Open Superseries is the next challenge ahead of the Indian and he would hoping to put up a good show over there.