You don't really need them for the task but statistics show PV Sindhu is easily the best Indian badminton player right now. Over the last year, the World No. 4 has only improved on the reputation she built for herself after her silver medal at the Rio Olympics.
To that medal, she has added a silver at the World Championships and then another at the Dubai Superseries Finals. It wasn't a surprise then that on Sunday, at the Siri Fort Stadium, she was the sole Indian to feature in the finals at the India Open where most of her compatriots had fallen earlier.
Yet, her loss to the underdog Beiwen Zhang threw up another number - a less than pleasant one. Sindhu has now won four of ten finals in a spell that began with her heartbreaking loss in Rio. Of those six losses, the 69-minute defeat to Zhang was the fourth time that the Indian had lost in a decider.
National coach Pullela Gopichand though has continued to defend the 22-year-old. "You could question why when you win 99 matches out of a 100, do you have to lose that one match. But I would rather focus on the 99 times that she does well," he said.
The fact remains that Sindhu clearly seems to be worse off in high-stakes finals - remove them from the equation and her record is an astounding 68-13 since Rio. Her loss to Zhang in India would be particularly galling since her previous defeats in finals had come against far superior opponents. Unlike Carolina Marin (2016 Rio Olympics), Nozomi Okuhara (2017 World Championships), Akane Yamaguchi (2017 Dubai World Superseries Finals) and Tai Tzu Ying (2016 and 2017 Hong Kong Open), Zhang is a solid but not spectacular player.
"There's no doubt that Sindhu is a better player than her. Most times Sindhu should beat her but she does seem to falter in closing situations," coach Vimal Kumar said.
Vimal observes that perhaps Sindhu could have been more prudent in her shot selection. He indicates the two points the Indian conceded when she had the chance to close out the decider at 20-19. Both points came as a result of net errors. The first one saw Sindhu botch a low pressure backhand into the net. In the subsequent point, Sindhu would make a weak forehand push that allowed Zhang to get the first dribble that forced Sindhu into making a weak mid-court lift.
"These were points where Sindhu could have taken control. She should not have allowed Zhang to dribble the shuttle first. She was a little tentative in her shot selection."
This is particularly surprising for Sindhu who showed little of this hesitancy in her earlier matches, particularly her semi-final walloping of former World Champion Intanon Ratchanok. "The media has highlighted the fact that Sindhu has lost a few finals and I don't know if that is playing on her mind," Vimal said.
Zhang certainly thought it did. "I think she came under a lot of pressure. The crowd got behind her to beat me and she took more pressure than me. She couldn't control the pressure," she said after the match.
Vimal says there are certainly areas Sindhu can look to improve on. He reckons Sindhu could develop variations in her game, that would give her more options when under pressure. He mentions that the men's single's World No.1 Viktor Axelsen is someone she could take ideas from.
"When Zhang was returning a lot of the shuttles, Sindhu would continue to smash. But unless you can hit them right at the corners you won't get a lot of points. Perhaps she could try hitting a few more half smashes from the back of the court. That would certainly put some doubt in her opponent's mind whether to stay back and defend the smash or come forward. Viktor Axelsen, who is like Sindhu in the fact that he has a height advantage, plays a lot of these shots," he said.
Ultimately, Vimal believes there is little Sindhu would be worried about. "I don't think she is going to do a lot of analysis about this loss. These are issues that can be easily resolved. The fact that she is losing in finals and not in the early rounds means she is at least coming close to wining. You'd rather be in this situation than losing early in the tournament. She's been a bit unfortunate before and I wouldn't be surprised if she turns things around too."