FIH Men’s Pro League: India defeats New Zealand 7-4
India showed a spectacular performance by playing aggressive hockey after going down 1-3 to register a 7-4 win over New Zealand in a thrilling FIH Men’s Pro League match on Friday.
The home team had defeated the same opponent 4-3 in the first leg match held on 28 October. The team struggled in the first 15 minutes in which they saw three goals against them but in the next three quarters, the team displayed an aggressive game by scoring two goals.
New Zealand dominated in the first quarter but came under pressure from repeated attacks from India and then could only manage one goal in the next three quarters. Captain Harmanpreet Singh (6th and 18th minute, both penalty corners), Karthi Selvam (16th and 37th), Raj Kumar Pal (30th), Sukhjit Singh (49th) and Jugraj Singh (52nd) scored for India. .
Simon Child (1st), Sam Lane (8th), Jake Smith (13th) and Nic Woods (53rd) scored for New Zealand. India got 11 penalty corners during the match, out of which three were converted into goals. Indians cracked the circle 29 times while playing aggressive hockey, compared to New Zealand’s 13 times.
India’s dominance of the ball was 56 per cent and 12 shots into the opposition’s goal, while the visiting team could do so only six times. India will take on Spain in the second leg match on Sunday. India had lost 2-3 to the European team on 30 October.
