India earned a well deserved 2-1 victory over New Zealand in the second hockey Test at the National Hockey Stadium at Wellington today.

The Kiwis took the lead in the 4th minute through Simon Child but India equalised with Tushar Khandker (This is the CORRECT spelling please) in the 30th minute before skipper Sandeep Singh produced the match winner with a penalty corner conversion in the 55th minute.

The two sides went into half time tied 1-1 after the Black Sticks repeated yesterday’s dream start scoring in the fourth minute. Midfielder Bradley Shaw put a nice ball down the left past Indian right half Gurbaj Singh to striker Simon Child who pushed home from an acute angle past goalkeeper Baljit Singh.

Thereafter the Indians took control of the proceedings and dominated the midfield with Sardar Singh, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandker and Prabodh Tirkey denying much space to the Kiwis. They created several chances for forwards Shivendra Singh and Rajpal Singh but good defence by the New Zealanders contained them, until five minutes before the breather when Tushar Khandker received a free hit driven from the right by Sandeep Singh, turned and nailed a reverse stick shot from close range.

India missed many chances to break into the lead after half time but their finishes either hit the post or were narrowly off target. Efforts from Shivendra, Rajpal, Khandker, S.V.Sunil and Hari Prasad all went up in smoke.

India dominated possession and territory leaving the New Zealanders guilty of too many turnovers.

The deciding goal of the match came in the 55th minute and had an inevitable feel to it. Sandeep Singh stepped up for his third penalty corner and finally hit the back of the net with his renown drag flick.

The Black Sticks were given a final opportunity to equalise in the last minute but the pull out was not accurate and Richard Petherick’s flick flew over the goal.

Indian Coach Incharge Harendra Singh said that the team played the best so far on the tour but was sore with the forwards for the misses chances. “The scoreline should have been much wider”, he added.

India who lead 1-0 in the four Test series will now play New Zealand in the third test at Auckland next Saturday. They will also play two matches prior to the next Test against the Invitational XI.

Ad Hoc Committee IHF Media Release