Dhruv Kapila’s favourite match-day drink is matcha. Tanisha Crasto’s verdict on it is brutally simple: “It tastes like grass.”
They may disagree on what belongs in a cup, but on the badminton court the Indian mixed doubles pair have spent the last two years learning precisely where each of them belongs.
“Last two years has been good. The first year we were progressing, like what we have to do and how we need to achieve. But since last year we learnt a lot and this year it’s going well now,” said Dhruv.
“There are days when we are not at the best but still we are trying to figure it out. How do we have to become more stable and keep performing well in the matches.”
On Wednesday, the duo, who had finished at the quarter-final stage at the 2025 World Championships, advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with a commanding 21-11 21-11 win over Macau’s Leong Iok Chong and Ng Weng Chi.
It was another step forward for a partnership that has steadily developed since the pair came together, primarily after the Paris Olympics.
They were playing with different partners. Dhruv had previously partnered MR Arjun, while Tanisha qualified for the Paris Olympics with veteran Ashwini Ponnappa.
Tanisha’s territory is the front court, where she is expected to move forward, attack and create opportunities.
Dhruv takes responsibility for the space behind her, covering the court and creating the time and room for his partner to do her job.
The arrival of Malaysian doubles coach Tan Kim Her back in the Indian setup brought a huge change to their game.
“I think before him coming, my game was lot more like women’s doubles, not more mixed doubles oriented,” said Tanisha.
“I think after him stepping in he’s changed my game a lot especially for like moving in and being more aggressive which gives Dhruv a lot more opportunity at the back and that’s think that’s exactly what’s needed in mixed doubles and gives us the right plan.”
Dhruv has also felt the impact of Tan Kim Her’s methods.
“I think training with Tan is totally, different like before we used to train Gopi sir and Manu bhaiya and now we are still training with everyone but the main program is through Tan coach. It’s more physical and which helps me a lot to you know maintain my physique and keep moving faster.”
For Tanisha, the adjustment was not about completely changing her game.
She had already been comfortable moving forward, but mixed doubles demanded that she make that movement more frequent and more consistent.
“It’s not actually much because even when I used to play with Ashwini Didi a lot of my movement was front based,” she said.
“But still I think mixed requires a lot more of that. Constantly doing it and being consistent in doing that is I think what has changed.
“Since Dhruv cover most of the court, my job mainly is to be more consistent in moving forward and I think that’s the change that has come in.”
Their development over the past two years has been less about finding one magic tactical formula and more about understanding how to function together when things are not going according to plan.
“We are just trying to not be happy when we are winning and when we lose also we have to be neutral. So we are just trying to progress those things like how we have to be stable,” Dhruv said.
“It’s not like up and down, there shouldn’t be a graph which shows there is too much of it. Sometimes it used to be. But now it’s been going well. We learned this year a lot, how we have to maintain it.”
That stability has become an important part of their partnership.
They watch matches together after difficult performances, going beyond the obvious question of what went wrong and looking at the things they did well too.
“We do have our own share of bad days, but at the end it’s really important to get back together,” Tanisha said.
“We sit and we watch a lot of matches together, which really helps us figure out actually what went wrong and also the good things that we’ve done and that gives us lot of clarity which helps us really come out of the feeling that we didn’t do well or something.
“But I think at the end of the day we’ve got each other’s back. I think more than the bad days there are good days.”
That trust extends beyond the court.
They are comfortable enough to analyse each other’s mistakes, support each other after losses and, occasionally, make fun of each other’s preferences. Like matcha.
“I really like it. Because especially when I am travelling I have a lot. Like before matches or after match,” Dhruv said.
“We should get him a matcha here,” Tanisha was quick to add.
But ask her preference and she says she hates it.
“It tastes like grass. I don’t like matcha at all,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed.)
