After a disappointinhg World Cup, the Indian Hockey team are looking to bounce back after their win over World Champions and now they have defeated Australia 5-4 in the FIH Hockey Pro League on Sunday at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela.
The Indian team was clearly carrying the confidence from the 3-2 win over Germany in the previous fixture. Hence they showed their attacking prowess in each quarter against Australia. Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored a hattrick whereas Jugraj Singh and Selvam Karthi scored one each to register a win over the Kookaburras. Joshua Beltz, Ky Willott, Ben Staines and Tim Howard scored for Australia which were eventually counted as consolation goals.
It was a fierce match between two great teams and the jam-packed stadium of Rourkela added more excitement to the game. However Joshua Beltz scored the opening goal of the game and handed Australia the lead in the 3rd minute. He caught the Indian defenders off-guard and found the back of the net very swiftly.
However the team shrugged off the early disappointment as Dilpreet drive a ball into the Australian circle in hope of getting a penalty corner but Harmanpreet found the ball and made no mistake in striking it home.
Only a minute later, Abhishek’s fine solo run handed India another penalty corner which was duly converted by Harmanpreet as he scored two goals in as many minutes to hand the hosts the lead in the game.
Australia tried coming back in the game in the second quarter but young goalkeeper Pawan kept out Indian origin Aussie star, Anand Gupte’s penalty corner attempt. A few minutes later, Selvam Karthi won India a penalty stroke which was converted by Jugraj Singh as the hosts were piling up the lead.
In the 26th minute, Selvam Karthi this time found the net and was reward for some tireless runs throughout the game. India were 4-1 up and were simply the more dominant team.
The third quarter saw Australia create more penalty corners and eventually Ky Williot. Later Sukhjeet won a penalty corner but India missed the opportunity to increase the lead due to some miscommunication. Australia however scored in the 53rd minute when Ben Staines put away the penalty corner allowing the visitors to look for a comeback.
India then earned another penalty corner due to Vishnukant and Hardik’s exceptional effort and Harmanpreet did not make a mistake this time. He helped India get a 5-3 lead.
Only a minute later, the visitors scored again as Tim Howard converted a rebound from, a penalty corner. The Aussies went on pushing for the equaliser as the Indian defenders were nervous but thankfully they did well to thwart the danger in the final moments of the game.
This was India’s fourth outright win in six matches in the 2022/23 season of the FIH Hockey Pro League.
