Birmingham Commonwealth Games: India beats Sri Lanka 5-0 in the badminton mixed team event to book a quarterfinal spot

The Indian squad made some rotations to give rest to PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth time to rest following their comfortable wins against Pakistan.

The clash began with a mixed doubles match between the Indian pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa against Thilini Hendahewa and Sachin Dias of Sri Lanka at the National Exhibition Centre.

The Indian pair cruised against their Sri Lankan opponents to secure a comfortable 21-14, 21-8 victory. The Sri Lankan team gave a tough fight in the opening game but fizzled out as the match progressed, allowing the Indian pair to make it 1-0 for India. 

The next clash was a men's singles match between Lakshay Sen and Nikula Karunaratne. In the opening game, the 20-year-old Indian was challenged by his Sri Lankan opponent but dominated the second set with his crisp smashes and accurate shots to secure a 21-18, 21-5 victory.

After the victory, Lakshay Sen said, "I was expecting that. I have trained with him before and played him in tournaments, so I know how he plays. I was rusty in the first game. I was still getting used to the conditions, but I got better in the second game. There is a slight drift which was not there in the practice sessions."

Next up was Indian sensation Aakarshi Kashyap in the women's singles event. She completely dominated Vidara Suhasni Vidanage of Sri Lanka to make it 3-0.

In the fourth match, the Sri Lankan men's doubles pairing of Dumindu Abeywickrama and Sachin Dias failed to offer much trouble to B Sumeeth Reddy and Chirag Shetty of India as they cruised to straight set victory 21-10, 21-13 to make it 4-0 for India/

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand finished the match with a final victory for India to make it 5-0, ending the day for India with a confirmed quarterfinal spot. India will lock horns with Australia in their final preliminary match before advancing to the knockout round.