4th India-Canada test Review: “We showed patience”: Tushar Khandkar

The India-Canada test series continued on Friday evening with the
second match in Surrey and fourth overall in the series. After India
had relinquised a 4-1 advantage in the last 5 frantic minutes of the third match that ended in a 4-4 draw, Coach Brasa was
reportedly furious with his players. The capacity crowd at the
Tamanawis field was keenly looking forward to how the two teams would
respond in the fourth match. The field had a festive air with a few
Diwali fireworks going up in the background in keeping with the large
percentage of Indian/ Punjabi origin residents in this Vancouver
suburb. The Indian team continued its captaincy rotation on the tour
with Dhananjay Mahadik named the captain for this game.

The Canadian team had the better of the exchanges in the early going
and got a penalty corner as early as the 7th minute when Indian goalie P R Sreejesh’s
kick went a little high. The hero of the third match for Canada, Mark
Pearson, made a strong move in the 15th minute but his cross went
abegging. This was followed by PCs in the 17th and 18th minutes as well
but with no result. Canada actually got the ball into the Indian goal
in the 20th minute but the offensive player was called for a foul just
before the shot at the goal and no goal was awarded.

Gurvinder Singh Chandi made an impact at the offensive end for India
in the next few minutes. First, he made a nice move into the Canadian
circle and made a pass into some clear space near the left post but
none of his teammates was available to take advantage. Next, Dhananjay
Mahadik made a deep run through the middle and passed off the ball to
Gurvinder who managed to get past the Canadian goalkeeper, and the
latter was left with no option except to trip up Gurvinder. The
referee had no hesitation in calling the penalty stroke, and Vikram
Pillay coolly converted to give India the lead in the 22nd minute.

The Canadians got near the Indian circle in the 23rd minute, following
which Arjun Halappa made a sizzling cross into the Canadian circle
from the right and the resulting play gave a PC to India in the 28th
minute. However, V. Raghunath could not get off a clean attempt. In
the 30th minute, Connor Grimes made a dangerous breakaway but was
stopped by Sardar Singh at the last minute. Prabhjot Singh got a green
card in the 33rd minute and Arjun Halappa got off another cross into
the Canadian circle from the right in the 35th minute as the first
half wound to a close.

The second half began with a quick setback for the Canadians. Veteran
Prabhjot got control of the ball in the midfield off a miscue by a
Canadian player and made a beautiful move down the left side of the
field past multiple Canadian defenders and passed off to Rajpal Singh
at the top of the circle on the right and he promptly put the ball in
the net to put India up 2-0 in the 38th minute.

Canada had a couple of moves in the Indian circle in the 44th and 47th
minutes and also got a shot at the goal in the 52nd minute while India
also got close to the Canadian goal in the 48th and 50th minutes, but
there were no goal outcomes. Mark Pearson earned another PC for Canada
in the 55th minute but they could not get off a clean attempt, while
Prabhjot earned a PC for India on the other side in the 59th minute
and Sandeep Singh’s attempt went wide. Canada had yet another PC
attempt in the 62nd minute but Scott Sanderson’s attemp was well saved
by Sreejesh high to his left.

Danish Mujtaba came in and promptly got a green card in the 64th
minute, but Coach Brasa could immediately be heard calling out words
of encouragement from the sideline to the young player and telling him
to keep his head up. The Canadian pressure built up as the game went
into its closing minutes and Sreejesh was the only one between the
Canadian player and the goal when he made yet another strong save in
the 67th minute. In the 68th minute, the Canadians got a shot a the
goal but could only hit the post. There was to be no repeat of the
miracle comeback of the third match and the final score was 2-0 in
favor of India.

The Canadian team did not look as sharp as previous matches, and had a
few miscues. They appeared to miss the steadying influence of Ken
Pereira and Rob Short in the middle, although Mark Pearson and Ranjeev
Deol always looked dangerous with the ball and gave the Indian
defenders plenty to think about. On the other hand, the Indian team
looked in good touch and controlled the ball well. Talking to Tushar
Khandker after the game, he felt that the Indian team showed patience
on offence in looking for openings. This reflected in the time of
possession for the Indian team. All in all, the Indian team was happy
to take the win and an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series with three
more matches to go