CAG beats Namdhari XI, makes last four

Both CAG and Namdhari XI had to win to stay in contention for the knock-out stages from Pool A of the 89th All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Wednesday.

It was CAG that did the job in style, securing its safe passage into the semifinals with an authoritative 3-1 triumph.

The other team that has already qualified for the semifinals from the Pool is IOC.

Punjab & Sind Bank outplayed Indian Overseas Bank 4-1 in a Pool B contest that was stopped for over 30 minutes in the first half due to heavy showers.

In another Pool B tie, Army XI dismantled SAIL 6-2. While both PSB and Army XI have 10 points each after their league engagements, Army XI topped the table by virtue of better goal difference: 11 to PSB’s 8.

From the first minute, CAG was a picture of confidence, defending with gusto and attacking with flair. It hardly put a foot wrong. Had it not been for a goal-line save by Namdhari ’keeper Jaswant Singh, CAG would have gone 1-0 up as early as in the 12th minute.

It was only a matter of time before it scored. With a lone defender facing him, Shanmugam slammed one on the run into the boards.

S.S. Bundela hit a thundering grounder off a penalty corner to double CAG’s lead, with two minutes for half-time.

Namdhari made genuine efforts to score in the second session. Some of the deflections that the Namdhari forwards executed inside the circle were either feeble or were palmed away by ’keeper Mrinal Choubey.

CAG put it beyond Namdhari after Naemuddin converted a penalty corner.

With Namdhari’s hopes squashed, Harwinder Singh reduced the agony somewhat for his team with a clean strike off a penalty corner.

It is not easy to play with intensity when a team has already reached the semifinals, but PSB did not let down its guard against IOB and was on the attack throughout the match.

Karamjit Singh and Ramandeep scored a brace each to assert PSB’s authority.

IOB’s best chances came towards the end. Hasan Basha, though, missed both sitters.

The results:

Pool A: CAG 3 (V. Shanmugam 27, S.S. Bundela 33, M.D. Naemuddin 59) bt Namdhari XI 1 (Harwinder Singh 63); Pool B: Punjab & Sind Bank 4 (Karamjit Singh 14 & 54, Ramandeep Singh 26 & 65) bt IOB 1 (Vinod Rayer 51); Army XI 6 (Binoy Bhengra 30, A.P. Siraju 35+ & 62, Biraj Ekka 47, Bachiter Singh 56, Anup Topno 64) bt SAIL 2 (R. Sandeep 15, Santosh Majhi 58).