Murugappa Gold Cup hockey | Underwhelming Railways downs Maharashtra

In terms of strategy, execution and aesthetics, the two Pool-A matches of the 96th-MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Monday failed to rise above the mundane and ordinary.

First, defending champion Indian Railways thumped Maharashtra 4-2 to top the table with nine points from three matches, and then Indian Army edged out SAI-NCoE (Bhopal) 1-0 for its first win in three matches.

For Army and NCOE, the tie was crucial as a win would have kept them in contention for the knock-outs. The teams were under pressure to deliver, and it showed in their desperation.

Once Akshay Dubey converted off a penalty corner in the first minute, the cat and mouse game started.

NCOE counter-attacked with all its might and had three back-to-back penalty corners in a matter of minutes in the first quarter, and almost scored in the third. Ankit Sharma’s powerful shot was palmed away by Army ’keeper Senthamizh Arasu. Army, too, had its chances in a couple of penalty corners in the second but couldn’t make use of them.

The Railways team was a pale shadow of itself despite a comfortable victory over Maharashtra. The side missed aggression and harmony. The team lacked sting despite having seniors like Sheshe Gowda, Gursahibjit Singh and Simranjot Singh in the ranks. After a goalless first quarter, Railways slowly picked up momentum.

The victor’s second goal showed its quality. Gursahibjit Singh hoodwinked a defender and passed it to Shivam Anand, who in turn gave it to Darshan Gawkar, who deflected it home.

The results: Pool-A: Indian Army 1 (Akshay Dubey 1) bt SAI-NCoE (Bhopal) 0; Indian Railways 4 (Gursahibjit Singh 18, Darshan Gawkar 53, Sheshe Gowda 56, P. Shanmugam 57) bt Maharashtra 2 (Ganesh Patil 32, Rohan Patil 57).