By s2h Team

Nine answered goals scored by India against Bangladesh came as no surprise in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey encounter at the Maulana Bhasani stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.

For one thing, the chasm between the two nations is immense – India are ranked third on the FIH charts. Bangladesh are distant 38th. To aggravate the disparity, India, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists were playing their first match after four months. Bangladesh were doing so after nearly 40 months!

Still, coach Gobinath Krishnamurthy, the Malaysian head coach of Bangladesh would draw some positives from the hiding. He said before the match that his team would be in a “damage control” mode. Meaning by which, the hosts would pack their defence and look for the chance on the counterattack.

Bangladesh carried that out pretty well for a while, particularly at defending penalty corners – their dual runners-out blunting India’s drag-flicking force led by Harmanpreet Singh.

Dilpreet Singh scored three goals in all, Harmanpreet and Jarmanpreet (2 each) with Akashdeep Singh and Mandeep Mor scoring one apiece.

India forced as many as 7 penalty corners in the first quarter itself, 13 in the match and converted 5.

At half-time, however, the score read only 3-0, a result of some doughty defending by Bangladesh.

It took a smart field goal by Player-of-the-Match Dilpreet Singh to break the deadlock nearing the end of the first quarter – the young forward scoring on the spin after accepting captain Manpreet Singh’s pass.

Dilpreet made it 2-0 with a fine backhander from top of the circle after an error by Bangladesh captain Ashraf Islam whose misplaced pass led to a sideline hit set up the goal early in the third quarter.

With the Bangla runners blunting Harmanpreet’s drag flicks, a variation was warranted and a deflection by Upadhyay made it 3-0 a minute from halftime.

More variations after resumption. Harmanpreet’s slip ball after a shimmy set up Jarmanpreet to pick his target with a slap shot that deflected off the goalkeeper’s pads high into the net to make it 4-0.

The fifth goal was a carbon copy of the fourth, Jarmanpreet’s no-nonsense slap hit proving lethal from the slip ball.

It was then half-a-dozen when Dilpreet made no mistake with a backhander on a ball into the circle.

Comeback man Akashdeep Singh made it 7-0 in the fourth quarter with a backhander too and Mandeep Mor celebrated his first international goal with a drag flick that went high into the net in the 55th minute from India’s 12th penalty corner.

Harmanpreet scored his brace with a sweet low drag flick with three minutes remaining to complete the tally.

Bangladesh strove for a consolation goal as the minutes ticked away and had a referral for a penalty corner rejected as the hooter beckoned.

India, who drew with South Korea 2-2 in their opener on Tuesday now take on Pakistan on Friday in a tournament reduced to five after Malaysia withdrew for Covid reasons.

India and Pakistan are joint champions with either nation winning three titles since the event was incepted in 2011.