India twice squander lead to lose 3-4 in thriller, series ends 1-1

Melbourne, November 30

VR Raghunath’s twin strikes went in vain as the Indian men’s hockey team went down 3-4 to Australia in the second and final game of their two-match series, which ended 1-1.

Akashdeep Singh (6th minute) and Raghunath (22nd, 25th) scored for the visitors, while Australia’s goals came from the sticks of Trent Mitton (13th), Jake Whetton (23rd) and Jeremy Hayward (38th, 54th).

Playing with 10 men for large periods in the third quarter, India defended stoutly but were finally outsmarted by Australia just six minutes from full-time.

The visitors were the first to sound the board when Akashdeep scored in the sixth minute to give India the lead. The home team settled into the game as the first quarter went on and two minutes from its end, Australia drew level through Mitton’s strike.

In the action-packed second quarter, captain Raghunath gave India the lead with a superbly-executed penalty-corner in the 22nd minute. But India’s joy was short-lived as Australia equalised through a penalty-corner conversion by Whetton in the very next minute. India had the final say before half-time when Raghunath converted another penalty-corner to give his side a 3-2 lead going into the break.

In an ill-tempered third quarter that saw four yellow cards — three to Indian players — Australia wrested back control, scoring the equaliser via a Hayward penalty-corner conversion in the 38th minute.

India were down by a player for long passages of play in the quarter and had only nine men on the field for a while, Nikkin Thimmaiah and Pardeep Mor, both on yellow cards, serving suspensions. The teams went into the final break level at 3-3.

Australia were the stronger side in the final period and their constant raids bore fruit when Hayward scored his second goal off a set-piece in the 54th minute to give his side the decisive lead. India had defeated Australia 3-2 in the first match of the series yesterday. 

Australia’s interim head coach Paul Gaudoin said: “It’s nice to win, but we certainly didn’t play well, it was a very scrappy game with cards for both sides. I guess what we’re trying to highlight to some of our young guys is that sometimes you have to grind out a win and I think we did that today, we found a way to win.”

“We’ve got a high standard and I don’t think we got there today,” he said. 

“What we did do, is we learnt a lot about some of these players so we’ll be able to go back and really give them some clear ideas as to where they need to improve for the next few years.” — PTI