Surrey (Canada): Sandeep Singh scored four times but Canada took advantage of a fragile Indian defence to stage a late comeback and hold the visitors to a 4-4 draw in the third Test of the seven-match hockey series held here on Wednesday.
Sandeep flicked home in the ninth, 18th, 31st and 45th minutes while Scott Tupper (second), Rob Short (66th) and Mark Pearson (68th and 70th) scored for Canada.
However, India continues to lead the series 2-0.
Canada began aggressively and took an early lead when the Indian defence conceded a soft penalty corner in the second minute which was sunk in by Tupper to goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza’s right.
Rattled by this reversal, India took a firm grip on the proceedings soon after with forays from both flanks.
The midfielders led by skipper Tushar Khandekar propelled the forwards Shivendra Singh, Rajpal Singh and Gurwinder Chandi to move cohesively in the Canadian danger zone for a look in.
A physical tackle by Scott Sandison on Rajpal Singh within the Canadian quarterline gave India its first penalty corner from which Sandeep levelled the score. Sandeep scored again nine minutes later after Shivendra was brought down by Canada’s Gabbar Singh.
India continued to hold sway with Khandekar, Dhananjay Mahadik and Arjun Halappa constantly moving upfront in tandem with the forwards. — PTI