A “rusty” South Korea fought back from a 0-2 deficit to draw 2-2 with India in the 2021 Asian Champions Trophy opener at the Maulana Bhasani Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday. There was a sense of Deja Vu with the outcome. The last time the two teams met was in the Asia Cup at the very venue in 2017 where the Koreans held the eventual champions 1-1.

South Korea have had a long Covid-induced layoff and it told in the early exchanges. As the contest progressed, however, they grew into the game and with a little luck could have grabbed all three points as India’s frailty with respect to card collection showed up again.

A yellow card each in the third and fourth quarters undermined India’s ascendancy in the game and made for South Korea’s resurgence.

Lalit Upadhyay and Mandeep Mour received five-minute suspensions – something that plagued the campaign at the Olympics and will cause coach Graham Reid’s team something to think about.

The hero of the day for South Korea was their goalkeeper Jaeyheon Kim who blocked all that India threw at him.

The player of the match, however, was Kim Sung Hyun whose strike drew his team level with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists who were playing their first match after the Games.

India, resting several players who did duty in Tokyo, shot ahead in the third minute with a splendid goal by Upadhyay who controlled a long aerial into the striking circle, beat his marker and flicked past the goalkeeper in the fourth minute.

The three-time champions and joint holders with Pakistan went two-up in the 32nd minute when Harmanpreet drag flicked home a penalty corner against a defence reduced by one for breaking the line too soon.

India got a dose of the same medicine when Jang Jonghyun, playing his 288th international, fired in his team’s third PC, also against a defence reduced by one to make it 1-2 in the 41st minute.

The goal arrived moments after Upadhyay was sent off and it worked wonders for Korean intensity as India lapsed into faltering defensive uncertainty.

It also revved up South Korea who until then relied largely on a solid defensive structure to keep India at bay.

The pressure they exerted at the start of the fourth quarter caught India back pedaling at the back and Hyun did well to slot home following a cross from the left even as goalkeeper Karkera tried in vain to clear.

Midway through the final quarter, Harmanpreet found the Korean net from a drag flick at India’s fifth PC award but the goal was disallowed after a referral for dangerous play.

The ball went in off a defender’s body but was adjudged to be off-target. The intricacies of the rules then stipulated a free hit to Korea instead of a goal.

Another yellow card, this time to Mandeep Mour, caused anxiety on the bench but India, not just sand-bagged Korean pressure but exerted some of their own that fetched them their sixth penalty corner.

It laid the stage for Kim to bring off a fine save and preserve Korean hopes of at least a point from the match.