The Indian men’s hockey team’s tour of Australia continued on Saturday with yet another defeat for Harmanpreet Singh and his boys as they lost the five-match series 3-1.
Australia came up with a clinical performance India 5–1 in the fourth match of the tour at the Met Stadium. With the win, Australia clinched the five-match series 3–1, with one more match to play.
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Jeremy Hayward (29′, 41′) scored a brace for the home side while Jake Weighton (30′), Tom Wickham (34′) and Matt Dawson (54′) were the other goalscorers.
Dilpreet Singh opened the scoring for India in the 25th minute after a goalless first quarter but everything went wrong after that.
World The No. 1 team showcased their defensive prowess on Saturday, led by star goalkeeper Andrew Charteris who pulled off some exceptional saves to deny India a goal.
After an initial few minutes of struggling to break into the striking circle, India made the breakthrough in the 25th minute when Dilpreet displayed his skills to score and give the visitors the lead.
However, the visitors could not hold onto the lead and Australia responded with a goal in the next four minutes. In-form Hayward converted a penalty corner in the 29th minute. Only a minute later, he netted another through Jake Wetton.
Even though the Indian forwards made desperate forays into the striking circle in the next two quarters, they could not break down the home team’s defence. To add to their woes, Australia scored goals at regular intervals leaving no chance for India to bounce back.
Tom Wickham in the 34th minute and Hayward in the 41st minute put India under pressure in the third quarter. In the final quarter, Australia picked up the pace and increased their lead to 5–1 in the 54th minute from a penalty corner.
“Australia were definitely a better team today. They played defensively from the start and we couldn’t put pressure on them and take advantage of the lead. As I said earlier, this tour has given us good experience and a good team like Australia. Playing against the team is always a learning experience. We now know the areas we need to work on ahead of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela,” said Captain Harmanpreet Singh.
“We will try to bounce back in tomorrow’s match and try to end the tour on a good note,” he added.
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