WSH: Cheetahs bounce back to beat Delhi Wizards 6-4

Chennai Cheetahs’ performance so far at home has been disappointing (one win, four losses and one draw) but on Wednesday they made a good comeback to blow Delhi Wizards away 6-4 in the World Series Hockey at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium.

Cheetahs’ Pakistani import Imran Warsi converted two penalty-corners to level the score 3-3 and then it was former India striker Adam Sinclair (63rd & 66th) and Vikram Pillay (65th) who turned the tide in Cheetahs’ favour to keep their semifinal hopes alive. Cheetahs, who have 19 points from 13 matches, will play their last league match against Mumbai Mariners on Friday. Sher-E-Punjab (25) and Chandugarh Comets (25) have already sealed their last-four berths. If Cheetahs beat Mariners and Pune Strykers (19 points) lose to Bhopal Bhadshas, the Chennai side will go through to the semifinals. Wizards, with 16 points, are out of the semifinal race.

Vikramjeet Singh scored all the four goals for Wizards but his effort went vain. The Wizards defender, taking their first penalty corner, converted in the 11th minute but the former India international V Raja was quick enough to score the equalizer for Cheetahs in the 14th minute. Cheetahs’ play-maker Vikas Sharma sent a pass to Raja, who scored with a scorching drive. It was Raja’s first goal in the tournament.

Vikramjeet converted another penalty corner to make it 2-1 in the 27th minute. Wizards led 2-1 in the second quarter and Vikramjeet was spot on to convert their third penalty corner make it 3-1 in the 38th minute.

Cheetahs combined as a unit with Vikas Sharma, Vikram Pillay, Raja and Vinod Pillay working hard but they could not score. Imran Warsi came to the fore again as he converted a penalty corner in the 47th minute to reduce the margin 2-3 and four minutes later scored another one through a sharp drag-flick to draw level 3-3. Warsi leads the goal scorers’ chart with 18 goals so far.

Cheetahs could have taken the lead when Adam Sinclair sent a pass from the right flank to Mark Harris inside the D but the Aussie missed it. When Cheetahs midfielder Mujtaba Hamza collided with Gurvinder Singh, Wizards were awarded a penalty corner by field umpire Satinder Kumar Sharma. This time Virkramjeet missed the chance.

Now the Cheetahs surge began. Sinclair, taking advantage of a goal-mouth melee, put them ahead 4-3 in the 63rd minute and Vikram scored two minutes later to increase the lead 5-3. Sinclair scored in the 66th minute to make it 6-3.