Erratic India downs China in a hard-fought encounter

If possession and domination on field was the only measure of a team’s success, India would be runaway winner in its opening game of the Asia Cup hockey against China at the Rajgir Sports Complex here on Friday.

It is not and the scoreline of 4-3, in favour of the host, is a better indicator of several things that coach Craig Fulton would be keenly observing as he plans for not just the remaining games here but also the major tournaments next year. Key among them would be the choice of personnel and their ability to keep their mind under pressure.

The two teams’ recent matches have been close and with the addition of Dutchmen Roelant Oltmans and Michel van den Heuvel in its coaching staff – two men with immense knowledge of Asian sides – the Indian were aware of their challenge. The sweltering 3 p.m. start did not help. 

India’s recent troubles, outside of absence of wins, have been well-known — slow starts, a dip in sharpness at the start of every quarter and a visible drop of levels in the final quarter. Against China, while the last one was clearly taken care of, the other two still appeared in patches. A fast start saw India seemingly go one up in the second minute itself, only for Mandeep Singh’s goal to be cancelled on China’s referral after he appeared to have pushed his marker — the first of two Indian goals to be disallowed. India had already missed a penalty corner and an open chance before that.

Thereafter, however, the Indians were a group of erratic men running around with little structure. The Chinese, patient and ready to step up on counters, took advantage of one such break in the Indian defence, taking lead off its first PC to silence the vocal crowd. The equaliser finally came in the 18th minute through Jugraj Singh off India’s third PC and Harmanpreet put the Indians ahead soon.

Six minutes later, Sukhjeet’s foot struck the ball before he shot in and the goal was disallowed. Harmanpreet got two more, the hat-trick goal coming in the 47th minute, the ball slotted high into the net on the left near the roof.

Fulton, however, would be concerned about his defence. The Chinese entered the Indian circle eight times and earned five PCs, converting three. More importantly, they got three different players to score, highlighting the options they have.

Harmanpreet struck the post off a penalty stroke. The Indians, in short, looked content with just a win without going all out.

That they could still win playing at less than optimum shows the gulf between India and the rest. Hopefully, the team will play close to its potential in the coming matches, avoiding any prospective banana peel. That would be disastrous.

The other matches on the day played out as expected with the higher ranked Malaysia outplaying Bangladesh 4-1, defending champion making its intentions clear with a 7-0 rout of Chinese Taipei in Pool B and Japan winning by an identical 7-0 margin against minnows Kazakhstan in the other Pool A game.

The results: Pool-A: India (Harmanpreet Singh 20, 33, 47, Jugraj Singh 18) bt China 3 (Shihao Du 12, Benhai Chen 35, Jiesheng Gao 41); Japan 7 (Koji Yamasaki 13, 36, Kosei Kawabe 1, Naru Kimura 5, Ken Nagayoshi 48, Shota Yamada 50, Ryosuke Shinohara 54) bt Kazakhstan 0).

Pool-B: Malaysia 4 (Ashran Hamsani 25, Akhimullah Anuar 36, Abdu Rauf Muhajir 48, Syed Cholan 54) bt Bangladesh 1 (Ashraful Islam 16); Korea 7 (Dain Son 17, 29, 58, Jihun Yang 27, 50, Seyong Oh 53, Yoonho Kong 54) bt Chinese Taipei 0.