S2H Team
You don’t need an avalanche of goals to make a match a thriller. Australia and India demonstrated that in an FIH Pro League encounter in a packed Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela on Saturday with a 2-2 draw before the Kookaburras grabbed a bonus point from the shootout with a 3-0 verdict.
The first meeting in Bhubaneswar produced a 6-4 scoreline in favour of the Aussies. Today, it presented a tighter but no less thrilling match that blew hot and cold in terms of intensity but never slipped into a lull.
India’s was a tremendous effort to halt the Australian six-match winning streak in the league but the home side came within seven minutes of grabbing all three points from their freewheeling adversaries.
Harmanpreet SIngh’s fearsome drag-flick gave India the lead in the 20th minute but Australia levelled through Blake Govers in the 23rd minute via a penalty stroke. India regained the lead in the 29th minute and held it till the 53rd minute when Tom Craig scored a field goal to equalize and take it into a shootout.
The tiebreaker came as an anti-climax of sorts with Australia clinching it by converting after the first three attempts that brought no answer from India.
Tim Brand, Flynn Ogilvie, and Tom Wekham scored without fuss but it was Player of the Match goalkeeper Johan Durst who was India’s stumbling block, putting paid to attempts by Sukhjeet and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay after first-up Akashdeep sent the spheroid to the moon with the custodian down on the turf.
India, who lost the shootout to The Netherlands in the last match, put first-choice PR Sreejesh and stalwart of 316 internationals into the fray this time around after Krishan Pathak did duty in the tie-breaker against the Dutch.
The Indian icon endured an injured knee sustained in open play that caused him to miss part of the second and the third quarter but his valiant efforts fell short of Australia’s clinical shootout shuffles.
The 37-year-old, however, provided a high moment for the raucous turnout in the fourth quarter to deny Govers his 144th goal in 154 internationals from the dreaded spot by sticking out his left foot.
He then stood manfully as the Aussies piled pressure with the clock ticking away but was beaten by a Tom Craig essay that eluded even Brand at the far post.
The high-scoring thriller last week appeared to have a clear impact on either team’s defensive game plan. The game ebbed and flowed, springing now and then to high-voltage aggression while slowing down at times but never deteriorating.
India were on the money with four referrals, one of which cancelled out an Australian goal and retained India’s 2-1 lead in the third quarter.
Australia appeared to take charge in the early moments of play but India came into their own by forcing the match’s first penalty corner, fired wide by Jugraj. Three more penalty corners came India’s way in the first half to none by Australia and the second set up captain Harmanpreet to bring up his 175th goal in 205 internationals and break the deadlock.
Momentum shifted soon later and Sreejesh came off his line to thwart Jake Whetton and Aussie pressure led to Amit Rohidas barging into Nathan Ephraums and conceding a penalty stroke. Govers beat Sreejesh to his right to restore parity and India suffered another setback when the talismanic goalkeeper left the pitch for treatment of an injury sustained in the effort.
Chances fell at both ends but Rohidas struck home from a PC, finding the gap between Durst and the right-hand postman to enable his team to cross over a goal to the good — a little different from the first match when India led 4-2 at the long break.
Australia responded to coach Colin Batch’s call to handle things better in the attacking third of the pitch as well as open their PC count.
His team duly obliged but Jeremy Hayward fired wide from the re-award and another award came to naught as the Australians looked for the equalizer.
India looked threatening on the break but Durst gave indications of things to come by bringing off a superlative stick save from Abhishek’s firm drive from the top of the circle after Sukhjeet carried the ball with aplomb on the left flank.
Australia controlled play right through the final quarter and relentless pressure produced another opportunity when Sreejesh upended Govers at the left-hand post. The Indian custodian, however, made amends by sticking out his left pad to thwart Govers who took the stroke himself but Australian pressure continued unabated.
India were pinned deep into their half as Australia stepped up a gear or two and the inevitable occurred when Craig slotted home to make it 2-2.
The shootout may have loomed large but Australia seemed bent on settling it in regulation time. Sreejesh saved Craig’s attempt but it was India who could have had the last laugh when Shamsher picked up a long aerial and drew Durst to a save with full-time beckoning.
Australia are closing the gap on table leaders the Netherlands who are 23 points from 11 matches. The Kookaburras, in second spot, have collected 20 from seven. Argentina are third with 13 from eight, and India are fourth with 12 from seven.
Other teams featuring in Rourkela are Spain and Ireland. The Red Sticks steamrollered the Irish 7-0 earlier in the day and are in sixth spot with seven points from eight matches leaving the debutants at the bottom of the nine-nation league with none from seven.
A table-top clash is billed for Sunday with Australia taking on the Netherlands at 1730IST followed by India playing Ireland at 1930IST.