Two goals in the 58th minute, one by otherwise sluggish and truggling Mandeep Singh and the other by surprising Ramandeep Singh saved India from fighting Japan blues before it posted a statistically superior but morally pinching 4-2 victory in the last pool match of the Hamilton 4-Nations. Till the Indian blitzkrieg, Japanese appeared all set to upset the apple cart of higher ranked Indians. The Japanese twice equalized India to stand tall with a 2-2 scoreline, and then their dependable defender, the one who struck a gem through penalty corner Shota Yamada, just pushed a hard earned stroke high and wide to the right of the cage. Had that been converted, India would have been in a big trouble. So it was not and with three wins in as many as matches, India, like in Tauranga leg, tops the pool.

India will now take on Belgium on the Sunday final as the European side outplayed the hosts for a fluent 4-0 win. Belgium struck all its goals in the first half, which includes two goals by Tom Boom in a minute!

It was young Vivek Prasad who set the Hamilton turf on fire when he fired the first goal in the twelfth minute. Two minutes later, Seren Tanaka equalized. At the stroke of half time, Varun Kumar got his name on the scoreboard with an immaculate penalty corner conversion.

After lemon time, two minutes before the end of third quarter, Shota Yamada sent a high flick into the cage, stranding Krishan Pathak — India’s first goalie PR Sreejesh was rested today — on the other corner.

After the stunning equalizer, Japanese appeared on top gear, putting Indian defence on wrong foot. A couple of attempts just missed their target.

Indian coach Sojerd Marinje brought experienced lot in the last moments which paid rich dividends. First, Manpreet Singh weaved past a couple of markers to send a close, but penetrating pass to Mandeep, who was on the right edge of the circle. Known for hurrying shots, Mandeep Singh for once took a quicksilver reverse shot to see the ball on the left corner.

Within seconds after the stunner, Rupinder Pal Singh fed Ramandeep Singh on the same spot to see him finishing off with a magical touch.