Spirited Indians give Aussies a scare

kuala lumpur: if only india had uncorked the type of free-flowing, attacking hockey in the past week as they did on the main pitch of the bukit jalil stadium here on tuesday. they played so beautifully that it did not really matter that they ultimately lost 3-4 to australia in their concluding pool b league match in the 10th men’s world cup hockey tournament.the important issue was that they played to something quite close to their potential and, had not the ghosts of the last week, the errors, surface sporadically, they might well have stolen the match from the aussies and denied them a cent per cent record. when sacked chief coach cedric dsouza left for home, he was proud of his wards despite the dreadful defeats. today, he must be prouder and pleased. the indians, demoralised as they must be, gave the aussies a good run for their money. they made a rather cautious start but turned eager and assertive as the match progressed, hustling and bustling to good effect in midfield. upfront, too, the evergreen dhanraj pillay gave it his all. he often brought out his whole back of tricks — speed, balance, elusiveness and the hawk eye for the telling pass. if only some of his mates were that wee-bit sharper in reading and receiving his rousing prompts, india could easily have come out comfortable winners. the indians were always seeking to get goals. but there was always the apprehension that the australians could score off their patent swift counter-attack, which on this day were mainly from the right. craig victory was the danger man. but he was denied at least thrice by goalkeeper devesh chauhan who had an excellent outing. and victory it was who finally rocked the indian boat following a swift counter. he pulled the ball off dilip tirkey’s stick and, in the same motion, flicked it home. the indians were undaunted. in fact, they began playing what was their best hockey of the tournament thereafter. and within a couple of minutes, the lead was restored. dhanraj latched onto a pass from jugraj singh, cut in like a panther on the prowl and flicked the ball square over goalkeeper lachlan reher for daljit singh to tap home. and suddenly, the australians started punishing these mistakes. in a spell of ten minutes they struck thrice through jeremy hiskins (penalty stroke 51st minute), brent livermore (60th) and mathew smith (short corner 62nd minute). yet, the indians showed a fire within which was hitherto absent. prabhjot singh pulled one back to minutes from time, making full use of the advantage rule applied by the umpire. in the first semi-final, germany take on korea while holland clash with australia. india, who finished sixth in this pool with seven points from two wins and a draw, play spain in the classification matches for places 9 to 12. at the last world cup in utrecht india finished ninth.