Thinaah Muralitharan chose her moment to go on the offensive and took 6 straight points from 11-14 down to upturn the margin to 17-14, and put massive pressure from her tall aggressive net game where she can get quite ferocious.

The loss set Treesa-Gayatri back 2-8 in Head to Head against the aggressive Malaysians. While Pearly Tan is still tepid if not tentative in her gingery comeback, Thinaah has used up the time while her partner recouped from knee surgery, by growing her already formidable offensive abilities.

Flat parallels at a fast pace, as the Indians converted defense to attacking transitions had given the Indians the initial burst. Gayatri’s quickfire reflex defense and Treesa’s mid-low blocks were doing fine, but the Malaysians are a tricky pair. For one Thinaah can counter dribble at the net and snap out of any exchange at the front court by out-aggressing opponents.

Gayatri had done well to keep them back for large part of the first set, but Thinaah remains unfazed in her combative mode and has more than compensated for Tan’s fewer smashes by hitting with a zip of her own. In short, Thinaah can go from playmaker to a haymaker in a snap of a Thanos finger. She was in quite the raging mood too on the day.

The 6 point flurry somehow had Treesa climb down from her own attack, and the fast attack started finding the net bump. The Malaysians are also more than competent in defense, and when Treesa’s drops started getting picked by Pearly and Thinaah mostly, the Indians were in retreat.

The third set fade-out wasn’t merely from exhaustion but Thinaah’s ability to pound down winners and play outrageous net flicks, followed by loud high-fives. It didn’t seem like a choice extended, but Treesa-Gayatri will need to fight back this pair another day.