Could a sub-optimal, discomfiting but essential Plan B be deployed for a win? That was the question posed to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty throughout their first set of the Thailand Open Super 500. They lost the battle 19-21, but won the war, 22-20, 21-16 for a 82 minute three-set tussle that gave them their first final of the season. Like lightening, the light of the win followed the sound of noise of the past fortnight. Plan B implied, allowing former World No 1s – now No 9, Malaysians Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izuddin to dictate the opening moves like in a chess game: the battle confined to flat, fast net exchanges, where the Indians would be starved of lifts, to smash down. A taut, tense front and midcourt war-theatre, where the Indians would necessarily need to defend Goh’s jump smashes if an errant lift ballooned up. Out of their comfort zone, it would also mean Satwik playing front court, and Chirag manning the back – an adapting measure that’s necessary to be trained …