India made history on Sunday by beating 14-time and defending champions Indonesia in the final to clinch a maiden gold medal at the Thomas Cup. Never in the history of the sport had India even qualified for the final, but they overcame all odds to send the country into ecstasy. Speaking about the historic triumph, one of the heroes of the win, Kidambi Srikanth told NDTV that the team stepped up when it mattered the most.
"It's a great experience to play as a team. I feel we had the best team, and all of them really stepped up when it mattered. Extremely happy with the way everyone has performed," Srikanth told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Srikanth revealed that before the tournament the team had made a WhatsApp group, naming it "It's Coming Home'.
"We had this group (on WhatsApp) and named it 'It's coming home'. It was just to believe in ourselves that we can do it. There are also a lot of youngsters in the team. So, we just wanted to bring that feeling that we can do it. Wanted to back each other and help the juniors and get the best out of them. I'm happy that everything we have done, really worked well," the star shuttler said.
India's Thomas Cup triumph sent the country into euphoria, but Srikanth said that the team didn't really party much after historic win.
"We haven't really partied much. Went out for a team dinner."