Pawar bottled the bouncing energy of Guru Sai Dutt 21-12 21-14 in the semi-finals of the Tata Open all-India national ranking tournament at the CCI on Saturday, but in the final, he will square off against India No 1 Anand. Pawar will not only have to dig into his existing repertoire of shot-making, but also bring out his best temperament to pull one back against his 29-year-old senior against whom he’s lost two close encounters in recent times. Top seed Anand made short work of P Kashyap, winning 21-11 21-12.

Pawar had lost agonisingly after being a match-point up against Anand at a semi-final at Belgium last season and in a team-event tie of the Goa nationals the previous year. Just last month, the world No 44 from Mumbai and India’s fifth-best ranked player had carried his jangling nerves to international events where he frittered a 17-13 lead away in the decider against Top10 player Sony Dwi Kuncoro to lose 21-15 13-21 21-18 at the Indonesian Super Series.

“I don’t want to be the player who came close to beating the names but never managed to do it. I need to hold my nerve and calm down. Maybe I should talk to Anup (Sridhar) or Chetan or Saina (Nehwal) about how to go about it,” Pawar says.

National champion Sayali Gokhale staved off a challenge from Trupti Murgunde, winning 21-19 14-21 21-17 to reach the women’s final. The 21-year-old meets fellow academy mate Neha Pandit, who had it easy against an off-colour Gayatri Vartak, winning 21-8 21-13.