Hockey World Cup: This is how New Zealand snatched victory from Team India’s grasp
For many people, it was a match worth money. Like any suspense, thriller, ‘Sunday Blockbuster’ shown on TV’s prime time.
Sometimes it turned here, sometimes there. In the last moments, it was difficult to decide who would win and who would bow down.
Sometimes India was ahead and sometimes New Zealand was heavy.
The excitement was such that when the penalty shootout round started after 60 minutes of play at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar with a capacity of around 15,000, there was hardly any spectator in the stands who did not stand up leaving his chair.
Moaning and trying to hide the pain after getting hurt while trying to stop the ball, PR Sreejesh sat with his back on the boundary line behind the goalpost and the entire Kalinga Stadium started calling his name. The call of ‘Sreejesh… Sreejesh’… was a plea for the ‘wall’ that stood between New Zealand and the quarter-finals to stand.
heartbreak necklace
The fans cheering the Indian team, shouting ‘throat breaking’ throughout the match, wholeheartedly applauded the New Zealand team that went on a ‘Victory March’ after the match.
When the team lost, the streak of disappointment was clearly visible on the faces of the Indian players.
Get the tricolor painted on their faces, holding the tricolor in their hands, it became difficult for some fans to control their emotions.
About 10-year-old Abhijeet Mohanty, who came to watch the match with his parents, was also involved in such fans.
Abhishek said, “I am very sad, he lost like this. He was not able to play at all.”
Indian team was favorite
The main reason for the fans’ disappointment was that the Indian team was the favorite in the crossover match against New Zealand.
The New Zealand team was at number three in Group C. He had also suffered the blow of defeat. At the same time, the Indian team had not lost any match in the first tournament on Sunday and was second in Group D.
His recent record against New Zealand was strong and the hosts were far ahead in the rankings (New Zealand 12th, India 6th).
In the first two halves of the match, the Indian team was very aggressive and managed to keep the ball in New Zealand’s circle for most of the time.
At one point in the third quarter, he had a 3-1 lead, but from the 43rd minute of the match, New Zealand counterattacked in such a way that the Indian defense was disintegrated.
If the Indian team had redeemed all the opportunities that came to hand, then there would have been no need to go to shootout and sudden death in the match.
India got their first penalty corner two minutes before the end of the first quarter but captain Harmanpreet could not capitalize on the opportunity.
The Indian team was more aggressive in the second quarter. In the second minute of the start of the game (17th minute of the match), Lalit Upadhyay scored the first goal of the match on Shamsher Singh’s pass.
Four minutes later, India got another penalty corner. The ball went into the New Zealand goalpost. The players started celebrating and the spectators started dancing but the third umpire’s decision gave relief to New Zealand.
In the 23rd minute, India wasted another penalty corner but a minute later, Sukhjit Singh doubled India’s lead.
Sam Lan scored the first goal in the 28th minute of the match for the New Zealand team looking nervous in the first two quarters. After opening the account, New Zealand players started looking aggressive in the third quarter.
After changing the goalposts of both the teams, the fortunes of the team also changed, but in the third quarter also the Indian team was ahead.
In the 40th minute, Varun Kumar converted a penalty corner and India took a 3-1 lead.
Here there was a chance to put decisive pressure on New Zealand but Indian players kept on missing the opportunities. He didn’t even have an answer to New Zealand’s counter attack.
India’s lead New Zealand counterattack Kane Russell scored the second goal for New Zealand in the 43rd minute.
During the fourth quarter (in the 49th minute of the match) Sean Finlay scored the third goal for New Zealand and equalized the score. The Indian team could not score any goal in this quarter.
Now the match was to be decided by shootout. Players of both the teams redeemed the first two chances. Abhishek could not capitalize on the third chance for India and the New Zealand team went ahead.
Sreejesh did not allow the next two players of New Zealand to score and Shamsher Singh brought India on par but the same Shamsher could not put the ball in the goalpost when he came to the front in the sudden death round.
Questions raised after defeat
Shankar, who used to coach women hockey players, had come to Bhubaneswar to watch the match from Bangalore.
In the second half, he was very upset about the Indian team’s game and missing many penalty corners.
He told the BBC, “If you don’t convert 40 to 50 percent of the chances you get in the match, then it is difficult to win.”
Shankar said that not only in this match but in the entire tournament, the Indian team kept making the same mistakes.
He said, “Wales got eight penalty corners, England got nine penalty corners, but the team could not capitalize on them.”
If the Indian team had won over England or the margin of victory against Wales would have been bigger, it could have got a place in the quarter-finals directly.
Shankar does not consider it just a lack of players. He also questioned the strategy of coach Graham Reid.
He said, “The coach should try to improve in this matter. If the Indian coach had made a strategy then why the results were not found on the field, whatever plan he made was not strong.”
These are the questions that many other people are also asking.
The Indian team is out of the title race but the World Cup is still on.
The shining face of Bhubaneswar, bathed in lights keeping the Kalinga Stadium in the center, may hardly fade till January 29 (the day of the final), but it seems difficult to see the skyrocketing enthusiasm and passion here again in this World Cup on Sunday evening.
