India suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the crossover match against New Zealand via a penalty shootout at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. India were in control of the game for the first three quarters but they failed to hold the nerves in the final quarter as New Zealand found a late equaliser for a 3-3 stalemate at the full time on Sunday.
It was a shocking defeat for India who started the match as favourites being the higher-ranked side than New Zealand. The Men in Blue failed to hold the two-goal cushion for a longer period of time throughout the match as a result New Zealand kept the Indian team on their toes.
India vs New Zealand Hockey World Cup Match Highlights
Lalit Upadhyay (17th minute), Sukhjeet Singh (24th) and Varun Kumar (40th) were the goal-scorers for India in the regulation time while New Zealand replied through Sam Lane (28th) and two penalty-corner conversions by Kane Russell (43rd) and Sean Findlay (49th).
It was a thrilling penalty shootout where a 9 shots were saved, five by New Zealand and four by India. With seasoned goalkeeper PR Sreejesh pulling off a couple of brilliant saves, India fought back to 3-3 in the shoot-out and had two chances in the sudden death as Shamsher Singh missed the final shootout effort to lose 4-5 in front of a jam-packed stadium.
New Zealand will now take on reigning world champions Belgium in the quarterfinals.
In the regulation time, India earned as many as 11 penalty corners and converted two of them while New Zealand got just two PCs.
Yet again, it was a case of ample goal-scoring opportunities for India but the forwards lacked finishing skills. India were on the offensive as soon as the match began with Mandeep Singh, who started despite taking a hit on his knee during training on Saturday, making a fine run into the New Zealand circle.
But India doubled the lead soon with Sukhjeet Singh scoring in the 24th minute, following India’s fourth penalty corner.
Harmanpreet’s drag-flick was palmed away by the New Zealand goalkeeper but it went up high and Sukhjeet was at the right place at the right time to volley it in.
New Zealand pulled one back a minute before half-time as Sam Lane deflected a Child’s low cross from the left into the Indian goal.
India were 2-1 up at the halftime.
New Zealand pressed for an equaliser in the third quarter and they got into the Indian ‘D’ on a few occasions but the home side swelled its lead by two-goal margin through a penalty corner conversion in the 41st minute. India earned three penalty corner in the third quarters, and scored from the third PC and seventh overall with Varun Kumar sounding the board cleanly.
Three minutes later, New Zealand again cut the deficit to just one goal with Kane Russell converting a penalty corner.
In the last quarter, New Zealand made a spirited fightback and restored parity in the 50th minute following their second penalty corner of the match as Sean Findlay deflected in a Hayden Phillips strike.
Goalkeeper Krishan Pathak saved India from disaster as he palmed away a high shot from Sam Hiha in the 51st minute.
In the earlier crossover match of the day, Spain beat Malaysia 4-3 in a penalty shootout to qualify for the quarterfinals after the two sides were locked in 2-2 in regulation time.
Spain will face title contenders and Pool A toppers Australia in the last eight stage on Tuesday.
(With Agency Inputs)
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