Melbourne: Indian shuttlers found themselves within sniffing distance of victory against defending champions England in the badminton mixed team semifinals before going down 3-2 in a nerve wracking encounter at the XVIII Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
A spirited Indian side, which upset formidable Singapore earlier in the day, were on course to stun England as well but faltered at the last hurdle.
Going by the recent form of the shuttlers, India can hope for a bronze when they take on New Zeland for the third place play-off on Monday.
In a repeat of last edition's final, England would clash with Malaysia, who beat New Zealand 3-1 in another semifinal, in the title contest on Monady.
After their 5-0 drubbing by England in a league match on Saturday, India brought in young Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar in the singles in place of seasoned Aparna Popat and Chetan Anand and the duo won both their matches to bring India tantalisingly close to a sensational victory.
The day certainly belonged to the promising Saina Nehwal, who pulled off yet another major upset, thrashing world No. 9 Tracey Hallam in straight sets.
Hallam's reputation took a battering as she lost 21-23 15-21 to a player 88-rank below him in world.
The 16-year-old Indian had prevailed over reigning women's singles gold medallist Li Li of Singapore in the morning clash.
The Indians stretched England to the full, as national Champion Anup Sridhar raced to a straight set annihilation of world No. 43 Aamir Ghaffar 21-15 21-14 after the mixed doubles duo of V Diju and Trupti Murugunde lost the first match 10-21 7-21 to James Nathan Robertson and Elizabeth Gail Emms.
World No. 61 Sridhar not only restored parity against the second seeded nation but also inspired his teamamates to play their heart out.
Nehwal then axed Hallam to put India ahead 2-1.
The doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas then came to the threshold of victory against Robert James and Ian Anthony before losing the close contest 19-21 19-21 taking the tie to the decider.
However, England had the last laugh as India's women pair of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian lost the issue 11-21 17-21 to Donna Victoria Kellog and Elizabeth Emms.
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