Pro League: India beat Dutch 5-2
Hosts hammer World No 3
BHUBANESWAR: On the eve of the match between India and the Netherlands, the talk in the opposing camps—from India chief coach Graham Reid to Dutch midfielder Seve van Ass— was about the unpredictability of the India hockey team. “You never know which Indian team will turn up,” van Ass had said.
On Saturday, a completely transformed avatar of the Indian team came to the fore as the hosts hammered world No 3 Netherlands 5-2 on their Pro League debut. Reid passed his first real test against a top team with flying colours as Manpreet Singh’s men bagged three points in the 2020 edition opener.
It was a high-intensity game, with relentless attacks from India putting the 2018 World Cup finalists under pressure from the start. “We had got the go-ahead from our coach to go on the offensive from the start,” said dragflicker Rupinder Pal Singh, who scored a brace (12th and 46th minutes). Gurjant Singh (1st), Mandeep Singh (34th) and Man-of-theMatch Lalit Upadhyay (36th) scored a goal each, while Jip Janssen (14th) and Jeroen Hertzberger (28th) scored for the visitors at the Kalinga Stadium here.
The Indian forwards were backed by a defence which performed brilliantly, letting the Netherlands score only once from nine penalty corners. First rusher Amit Rohidas was impeccable in thwarting Dutch chances with goalkeeper PR Sreejesh keeping the ball out when Rohidas missed. World No 5 India, on the other hand, converted two of their seven penalty corners.
Just 13 seconds into the match, India stunned the visitors with Mandeep poaching the ball immediately after pushback by the Dutch. Mandeep’s one-two with Gurjant resulted in an incredible start for India with the latter firing past Netherlands goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak to finish off a sensational attack. Gurjant’s goal is the fastest ever by an Indian, surpassing Ajit Singh’s 1976 record of 15 seconds, though it could not be independently verified. India rocked the visitors again with Rupinder converting India’s first set-piece to take a 2-0 lead. Two minutes later, the Dutch found a response thanks to Janssen’s drag-flick that rattled the bottom left corner. The Dutch looked more like a top team in the second quarter as they pressed the Indian defence back resulting in Hertzberger’s field goal three minutes from halftime, levelling the contest at 2-2.