Australians make a killing

JAYDEEP BASU

New Delhi: Jamie Dwyer has kept his words. A day before the final, the Australian hockey star promised to silence the spectators in the first half-hour, and then go for the kill. “India have the crowd support, but it could be neutralised if we score early,” Dwyer had predicted.

The Aussies did just that by inflicting a humiliating 8-0 defeat on India, in the Commonwealth Games final at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, on Thursday.

With a capacity crowd lending vociferous support to the home side, there were even exchanges on the pitch for the first 15 minutes. Just when the Indian fans were looking for a brighter day ahead, the Australians struck in lightning speed, scoring three goals in a span of 11 minutes. It truly silenced the crowd, and thereafter, the visitors scored almost at will, especially in the last 10 minutes.

This was India’s biggest defeat in the title round of an international tournament, even worse than the infamous 1-7 loss against Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games final at the same venue. For the winners, Jason Wilson (2), Luke Doerner (2), Chris Ciriello, Simon Orchard, Jamie Dwyer and Glenn Turner were the scorers.

Indian strategy backfired at every stage of the match. Playing the final under near 40-degree heat at 11.30 am was thought to be an advantage for the hosts. It proved to be the other way round as Indians were visibly tired half way through, while Australians looked the energetic lot, with the stamina to play another match.

“India had the disadvantage of playing under the sun,” said the Australia coach Ric Charlesworth rather sarcastically after the match. “We had the chance to play in the afternoon session in this tournament. Throughout, India were playing under floodlights,” he said.

All said and done, there was a huge difference of class between the two teams. In the last two years, Australia have played 76 matches without losing any of the encounters. The variations in their attacks were too good for the Indians to counter.

So formidable were the Australians that they did not call up their drag flick specialist Luke Doerner when they earned two consecutive penalty corners in the 21st minute. Instead, Chris Ciriello found the target with a smashing hit. Doerner came up later to score twice from the next four penalty corners to take his tally of goals in the Games to eight.

Australians never slackened the pressure. After scoring their fifth goal in the 52nd minute, they attacked in waves to pick up three more in the last 10 minutes.

“We always like new challenges on the pitch,” said Charlesworth. “There was no question of releasing the pressure. Every goal is different. After all, we had an untidy, sloppy first 15 minutes.”

India could go near the Aussie goal only thrice without any result. With all their players barring Sardar Singh playing poorly, the hosts had little to offer against the mighty rivals.

Captain Rajpal Singh made a feeble attempt to defend his team. “It was one of those days when everything went right for Australia. We had one such day in the Asia Cup final against South Korea in 2007, when we won 7-2,” he added.

In the end, Jamie Dwyer once again revealed the ultimate strategy. “Our plan was not to allow the Indians to run on the pitch, so the crowd couldn’t cheer for them. Thank God, it clicked.”