Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 19: First-time HIL semifinalists, Kalinga Lancers will have all the odds stacked against them when they face defending champions Ranchi Rays at Ranchi, Saturday. They will be playing against a side which has the experience of reaching the last four stage in all the editions of HIL and will also be playing with home advantage.
The Rays have shown how strong they are as a side by finishing on top of the six-team league with an eight points advantage over second-placed Punjab Warriors. They have won seven of their 10 outings and in the process have established their supremacy in no uncertain terms.
Lancers on the other hand received a 0-6 drubbing in their last pool encounter against Delhi Waveriders. It is always difficult to come back after such a humiliating defeat and it will be all the more arduous for them against a side which has always dominated them. The only thing going for them is that they are being led by Moritz Furste, a man who till last season was donning the Ranchi colours. His inputs about his former teammates may come in very handy for the Lancers.
It will also be a battle between Indian and foreign coaches with Harendra Singh coaching the defending champions while Mark William Hager is from New Zealand. The two masterminds will definitely put their best foot forward to win this battle of attrition. Here again inexperience will chase the Lancers as this is Hager’s first assignment in the HIL while Harendra is a seasoned campaigner.
But then sports, nothing is impossible. Lancers in the past have defeated the Ranchi side (4-2 in favour of Ranchi in the six games played so far), so they will draw hope from those results. But then for them to achieve the near-impossible feat their Australian striker Glenn Turner will have to find his bearings. His stick has been very quiet in the last three games and Lancers with a shackled Turner do not look potent at all.
Overall it will be 70-30 in favour of Ranchi when the eastern India derby starts Saturday. In the other semifinal which will also be played Saturday, it will be a north India derby with Delhi Waveriders taking on the Punjab Warriors.