Breda (the Netherlands): India’s woes continued in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament as they once more finished second best going down to defending champions Australia who won the title for the 15th time. After regulation time had ended 1-1, Australians won the tie-breaker 3-1 to emerge 4-2 winners. In the scheduled 60 minutes Blake Glovers had put the Aussies ahead while Vivek Prasad equalised for India in the third quarter.
Poor shootout cost India the game by India as Sardar Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Lalit Upadhayay failed to convert the hits. Even though PR Sreejesh made two fantastic saves it was to no avail as the kangaroos once more tamed the Indians. Tyler Lovell was outstanding for the Australians and when their turn came Aren Zalweski, Daniel Beale and Jeremy Edwards got the goals.
It was a game that India did not deserve to lose. They were unlucky with Dilpreet Singh, once hitting the post in the first quarter and SV Sunil and Mandeep Singh also coming close on a number of occasions.
In recent times, there has been lot of discussions on the inclusion of Sardar Singh in the team. Whatever may be his past performances, the former Indian captain looked a pale shadow of his self. Sardar has lost the speed and it was indeed difficult for him to keep up with his younger colleagues.
Australia took the lead when Glovers converted Australia’s second penalty corner beating Sreejesh with a shot to his left. The Indian custodian while trying to slap away the ball palmed into his own net.
In the past, Australia have always dominated India in hockey. However, Sunday turned out to be different with the Indians repeatedly breaking open the Aussie defence. Had Lovell and Ogilve Flynn not played a terrific game, India would have won the game on regulation time itself.
Manpreet was outstanding for India and with his pace and incisive distribution was a constant threat to the opposition. The young Dilpreet caught the eye with his nimble footwork and stickwork. Midway into the third quarter his sudden turn with the ball caught the entire Aussie defence napping. His fierce hit, however, was palmed away by Lovell and Lalit just failed to cash in on the rebound.
The goal came a couple of minutes after that. A lovely worked ball from the midfield saw Manpreet find Dilpreet who promptly fed Vivek in the ‘D’. The forward took a shot on the turn that gave Lovell no chance.
In the fourth quarter, Sunil broke down the right, but his cutback from close to the ‘D’ was somehow scrambled away by the Aussie defence. Then Dilpreet broke down the left, only to see his pass go abegging, as no one had followed it up.
In spite of the loss, this was indeed a creditable performance by the Indians and will bode well for them in the tournaments to come.
