Indians succumb to their old habits

Hockey Super Series

A lacklustre India conceded three early goals as they were outplayed by New Zealand 3-6 in their opening match of Lanco International Super Series Hockey 9s tournament here on Thursday.

India failed to shed off old habits of slow passing and slower goal-building moves much against the fast-paced game of their rivals and they conceded goals at regular intervals to frustrate the fairly large crowd who came to support them at the Perth Hockey Stadium on the opening day of the tournament.

The new format was put in place to play the game at a faster pace and increase the number of goals in each match but it seemed that India had a lot to do if they have to make an impact.

New Zealand were 3-0 up in no time after Stephen Jennes opened scoring in the sixth minute outsmarting an otherwise alert defender Majit Kullu. Within a minute, Blair Hilton converted half chance into a goal before Benjamin scored the best goal of the contest to put the Kiwis with three-goal cushion.

It was a reflexive backhander from the right top of the circle that took Indian captain and goalkeeper Bharat Chetri unawares. Even after taking 3-0 lead, New Zealand kept attacking and India had to thwart many surges.

Danish Mujtaba gave finishing touches to the medio Sardar Singh’s superb work in the 12th minute to score India’s first goal but they still needed to clear a two-goal deficit.

Sardar Singh, who was in fine touch, scored India’s second goal from the first penalty corner they got two minutes after the first break to give semblance of a fight.

Substitute Ravi Pal then punched a hard one from the top of circle in the 24th minute to give India a chance to come back into the match at 3-4 scoreline.

To make matters worse, India had to play with a player less for considerable time on account of V R Raghunath arguing for a goal and getting the wrath of Australian umpire Dan Johnston.

In the day’s earlier match, hosts Australia edged out Pakistan 3-2. Mark Knowles scored the opener for Kookaburras in the sixth minute before Glenn Turner made it 2-0 two minutes later.

Pakistan pulled things back through Shakeel Abbasi (9th) and Abdul Haseem Khan (10th) before Jamie Dwer struck the winner in the 14th minute.