Hockey World Cup: India’s spunk not enough

NEW DELHI: As expected, it was a bruising encounter. England wanted to seal the semifinal berth and India wanted to keep their hopes of breaking into the elite six alive. The result at the end said England 3, India 2. England got what they wanted and India were left wondering what could have been.

With the stadium packed with shouting, screaming fans once again, India walked in with purpose, keen to bridge the gap that the Europeans have steadfastly held on to. But what started with hope, turned into a battle for survival for India.

Like in the earlier two games, they conceded an early goal and then played catch-up. Down 0-1 at half time, despite having more of ball possession, they came back fighting in the second, only to see England’s Ashley Jackson slot their first penalty corner home to make it 2-0. And soon after, it was 3-0, a melee inside Indian circle giving Jackson the opportunity to slip it past a helpless Adrian D’Souza and a host of Indian defenders.

It was here that a brave fightback happened. The Indians went for broke, diving, tackling, chasing and harassing the nippy Englishmen all over the turf. Those were a maddening 20 minutes. It was hockey at its racy best: with continuous attacks and counter-attacks. With the Indians coming at England’s throat with such ferocity, something had to give way. It did.

Gurbaz Singh snatched the ball at the halfline in the 54th minute and raced down the right flank with bounding steps. He unleashed a cracker that went straight to a waiting Gurwinder Singh Chandi. The young sardar slotted it home without fuss. 1-3 and the crowd was going wild.

Soon after, Adrian made two brilliant saves and India moved up again in a counter, changing flanks to confuse the English defenders. It was a superb move that ended with a Shivendra Singh pass to Sarwanjit who flicked it towards Rajpal Singh to do the damage. 2-3. In the 57th minute. England were rattled and the noise inside the stadium was deafening.

After that, India kept up the tempo, looking for that equalizer that would have given the perfect finish to the Saturday night story. However, after a nail-biting 13 minutes of pulsating Indian charge, England managed to walk away with yet another win, their fourth straight here which made them the first team to enter the Hero Honda World Cup semifinals.

So, what emerged in the final analysis? The match showed that India have the heart to fight, they have some players who can match the best but they lack in finishing skills. First, penalty corners: India got two in the first half and both were saved by England, Sandeep Singh and Diwakar Ram failing to make the drag flicks count. England got just one and they converted.

Indian midfield yet again had a good game, with Gurbaz excelling on the right and Sardar Singh and Arjun Halappa giving England enough jitters. However, the forwards, who also fought hard, could have converted a few chances – in both halves. India had five scoring chances in the first half and failed to get a single goal. That made a huge difference.

The heartening bit was the improvement in defence. The Indians did a lot of running, closing down gaps. However, they would have once again realized that no mistake goes unpunished at this stage. India’s task was made tougher in the last five minutes when Gurbaz and Sardar Singh were shown yellow cards.

They now have South Africa on the cards. They have to win it to avoid ending up in the 9-12 bracket. Saturday’s performance should give them heart for that challenge.