Indian Men’s hockey team shows old weaknesses, bottle a 4-1 lead to draw the match 4-4 with hosts England at the Commonwealth Games


Indian Men’s hockey team shows old weaknesses, bottle a 4-1 lead to draw the match 4-4 with hosts England at the Commonwealth Games

Indian Men's Hockey Team draw 4-4 with England

The Indian men’s hockey team ensured people watching the match inside the stadium in Birmingham and on television sets back home in India would be dealing with increased blood pressure. After the end of four quarters, where India played sublime hockey at the start and then looked stale, they were lucky to get away with a 4-4 draw in the Commonwealth Games.

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This was almost like watching a soap opera on prime time on Monday night. If the first half was like tasty soup on the dinner menu, where India looked solid, the last two quarters resembled stale food on your plate. You had to consume it due to hunger and the needless yellow cards which were awarded showed the frailties in the Indian side led by a hassled Manpreet Singh.

It would be no secret, if, after the match, coach Graham Reid would have given his boys a tongue lashing inside the dressing room. For, given India’s stature and being the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, they were tense, prone to mistakes and faced a torrent of raids from England in the last  25 minutes. Had it not been for the pathetic penalty corner conversion of England, they would have walked away winners in front of home fans. To be sure, the match kept fans engrossed.

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How the match unfolded for Indian Men’s Hockey Team

Indian Men's Hockey Team
Indian Men’s Hockey Team

For any match to produce eight goals, without a shootout, was high energy. Just that, for India, the energy was more nervous in nature in the last stages. It was like watching a sick patient’s oxygen level dropping and being forced to be intubated by the doctor. To make a comparison with an ICU-like situation is acceptable as the way England was attacking when India was down to nine men was scary.

The defence and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh did hold out. These nervous moments were just not needed from the Indian side which has been on a high for many reasons. After winning the first two league matches in their group, beating England was imperative. That they were flummoxed for the most period was a sign of crumbling under pressure, indulging in rough play and being censured by the field umpires.

India made a rapid start to the game, scoring after just three minutes thanks to a Lalit Kumar Upadhyay goal from a penalty corner. Mandeep Singh then doubled the Indian lead with two minutes to go in the opening quarter. Mandeep grabbed his second and India’s third in the third quarter which saw England strike the post through Christopher Griffiths. India went into the half-time break three goals to the good.

Staring at a challenge similar to that of climbing the Himalayan peaks in bad weather, England pumped in a vital goal in the third quarter through Liam Ansell. From poetry to prosaic, India started slipping when India was harmed after Varun Kumar was booked with a yellow card. Despite that setback, India scored their fourth goal through Harmanpreet Singh.

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England hit right back as Nicholas Bandurak energised England India with a goal. A superb Phillip Roper effort put England back with ten minutes to go. India tied time-wasting tactics and was lucky to force the draw. At one stage it seemed doom. The draw may seem better than a defeat but the target for India is top Group B. After all, on the other side, clinical Australia is there. Avoiding them in the semi-finals is a must, given their form and fluency.

“The second half was just crazy. As soon as we got momentum and things started to roll the energy was up, the crowd was behind us and we started to find that extra pass that wasn’t quite there in the first half,” said English player Nicholas Bandurak. “We genuinely felt a couple more minutes might have done it for us but that’s sport, isn’t it?”

Maybe, Bandurak was unable to explain the way they took the penalty corners, looking like novices. The attempts were not clear or clean and the lack of cohesion and firepower let India walk away with a draw. An England win would have meant copious criticism from Indian hockey fans.

India will next play Canada on Wednesday. The message from coach Reid will be clear, play clean hockey and pump in as many goals as possible. For the record, the second Indian to be sent out after being flashed a yellow card was Gurjant Singh.

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