India Open Super 500 title, Thomas Cup victory, Commonwealth Games gold, bronze at the World Championships and finally the French Open Super 750 title.... it’s been a dream year for shuttler duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. And now, to top it all, the duo have climbed to No. 5 in the world rankings.

“Yes, it has been an amazing year for Satwik and me, the most successful one for us on tour thus far,” Chirag told The Telegraph from Hyderabad where the duo are training for a busy year ahead. “But 2023 will be an even bigger year with more to achieve and we are already geared towards that.”

Do they regret missing out on anything in the year that is on the way out? Something that would have made their success taste even sweeter?

“Look, there will, almost always, be something which could have been better. In our case, a gold at the World Championships, for instance, where we had to settle for a bronze. But then, the ifs and buts will remain. We are quite satisfied with the year. Looking back there are a lot of positives for us to carry forward,” said the 25-year-old.

The way badminton as a sport is perceived in India has changed much since the two have come into the limelight. What has been their contribution to the change?

“The game has indeed changed drastically. There is a lot more importance given to doubles today. Many youngsters want to take to doubles as a career option now while previously it was always singles. That has somewhat been our contribution, for sure,” said Chirag.

Satwik had pulled a hip muscle during the French Open in October after which he had taken a few weeks off. It has now been some time that he has regained fitness and is back to full-fledged training.

So what does Chirag do when his doubles partner is indisposed/unfit?

“At such times I work on the individual aspects of my game that I need to improve on. Sometimes I take a partner and do the same drills which I would do with Satwik.

More importantly, I keep a positive mindset because it can get very difficult when your partner is injured.”

But right now Chirag is in a happy frame of mind. He’s had a good month of practice already and has two more weeks before they head off to Malaysia for the Malaysia Open (January 10-15). That will be followed by the India Open and the Thailand Open.

What are his targets for 2023? Pat comes the reply: “To break into the top-three which I think is quite achievable. As far as ranking tournaments go, All England is definitely one event we wish to win. After that, there is the World Championships and then the Asian Games in the month of September. Winning medals at these events is something we want to focus on.”

Finally, what has the secret of this duo’s success?

Says Chirag: “It’s been a tremendous partnership. We come from very different backgrounds and initially, it was quite tough to adjust. But once we got to know each other better and spent more time together, the results came automatically. Our offcourt friendship was reflected on court. The off-court camaraderie is, I believe, the secret of our success.”