BHUBANESWAR: India’s wait for a victory against
Australia
continued as the hosts were handed yet another defeat by the defending champions of
FIH Pro League
at
Kalinga Stadium
here on Friday.
Coming into the match on the back of some good performances against the Netherlands and Belgium, one had hoped for a strong show from Manpreet Singh & Co but they failed to live up to expectations and lost the encounter 3-4.
Dylan Wotherspoon opened scoring for the visitors in the sixth minute itself and Tom Wickham doubled their lead three minutes into the second quarter. Raj Kumar Pal got one back for India in the third quarter, but Lachlan Sharp and Jacob Anderson scored twice in two minutes to make it 4-1 for Australia.
India, however, got back into the game in the final 15 minutes of the match and scored two quick goals through Raj and Rupinder Pal Singh. In the dying minutes of the game, while Australia tried to increase their lead, it was India who won a penalty corner and could have taken the game into shootout. Sadly, Rupinder, who had a poor match, shot wide to the dismay of the crowd and India finished on the losing side for the second time in a row.
Although the scoreline suggests it was a close game, it was Australia all the way. India were able to dominate the game only in the last 15 minutes. Apart from that, they failed to find their feet. At times it did not look like India’s midfield existed. Even inside the circle they gave the Australian players a lot of space. In terms of speed and vigour, Graham Reid’s men failed to match the Aussies and were sometimes chasing their shadows. And they were once again poor in converting their chances.
With this win, Australia have nine points from five games while India have eight from the same number of matches. The two teams will play on Saturday again.
Unlike the last four matches, India failed to get an electric start and it was Australia who took the lead.
Aran Zalewski ran down the middle and played the ball to Sharp, who passed it towards a full-stretched Wotherspoon. Krishan Pathak tried his best but Wotherspoon got his stick to the ball and deflected it into the net. As the match progressed, India were made to fight tooth and nail to gain possession.
They did create some chances but could not convert them. On one occasion, Gurinder Singh played a brilliant cross from the right towards Lalit Upadhyay. All Lalit had to do was get a touch on the ball and deflect it in. But he could not do it and the ball hit his foot.