The Hindu:

Birmingham: In a splendid second half action, India nullified the 0-2 deficit and managed to win the second hockey Test 4-3 and level the series 1-1 against England at the University of Birmingham on Friday.

It is a rare instance of Indians recovering from a two-goal deficit within 27 minutes and then netting one in the first half and three in the second.

England had a comfortable lead when Ashley Jackon put the team ahead in the 26th minute and within four minutes Jonty Clarke enlarged the lead. Only late in the first half could India find the rhythm and strike, a goal coming from Arjun Halappa at the stroke of half-time from a penalty corner. Shortly after the break, India levelled 2-2 when Dhanjaya Mahadik struck from a penalty corner. Thereafter India kept up the pressure and Rajpal Singh gave India the well deserved lead.

England hit back again to restore parity at 3-3 thanks to the second strike by Ashley Jackson. Within a minute before the final whistle came the match-winner from Gurvinder Singh Chandi. India not only inched back into the match but displayed admirable measure of speed and skill to shock the home team. Adrian D’Souza brought off a few saves to keep the big turnout of Indian spectators at the venue happy.

Speaking after the match, India’s outstanding goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza said: “It feels good to have levelled the series and to make the saves I did against a side with the quality that England has was great.”

Learning exercise

India’s Spanish coach Jose Brasa refused to get carried away with the comeback and put the result down to renewed confidence in his team. “We’re not worried about the result tonight. We haven’t come here to win, we’ve come to learn. They are trying new things that they are not used to. In the second half, we gave the players more confidence to play how they know.”

England’s coach Jason Lee, who will announce his squad for the EuroHockey Nations Championships early next week, blamed missed opportunities for his side’s defeat: “At 2-0 up we were playing well but the sign of a good team is to put the game away in that position.

“We had several good opportunities to go 3-0 up but we didn’t take them and we really lost the game in about the 28th minute when we could have put it to bed. In the second half we were lethargic and lackadaisical and India came back well.”

India plays the third and final Test on Sunday at 3-30 p.m. (IST).