The Indian men’s hockey team beat inexperienced Germany 3-1 in the second match of a double leg tie to consolidate their lead at the top of the FIH Pro League standings here on Friday.
The Indians scored from Sukhjit Singh (19th), Varun Kumar (41st) and Abhishek (54th) while Anton Boeckel (45th) scored the lone goal for Germany.
India beat Germany 3-0 in the first match of the tie on Thursday.
India are now at the top with 27 points from 12 matches, while Germany are second with 17 points from 10 matches.
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Against Germany, whose 22-man squad made half-a-dozen debuts in these two matches, the Indians continued to dominate.
The Indians scored some decent runs in the opposition circle in the first quarter but failed to convert any chances.
In the second quarter, Sukhjeet scored a brilliant field goal in four minutes to give India the lead.
Sukhjit found himself in perfect position to score his second international goal inside the circle after Manpreet Singh and Neelkant Sharma set up beautifully.
Lakshya lit the spark in India’s game as he freely roamed the field and his passing looked impressive too.
The Germans put the opposition defense under little pressure in the last few minutes of the second quarter and managed a shot but Krishna Bahadur Pathak was alert under the Indian post.
India enjoyed the lion’s share in the first half with three shots on goal against anyone.
Three minutes into the change at the end, India finally secured their first penalty corner but Germany goalkeeper Jean Danenberg saved a brilliant reflex to deny Harmanpreet Singh.
In the 41st minute, Shilanand Lakra earned another penalty corner for India and this time Varun Kumar kept the ball perfectly in the bottom left corner to double the home team’s lead.
Germany, however, retreated four minutes later through Anton Boeckel, who pushed in a blank goal after being made early by India’s mentor PR Sreejesh.
Abhishek got a long pass from Harmanpreet in the 54th minute with a clever shot from the left side of the circle to level it 3-1.
The Germans gave their heart and soul in the final few minutes of the game and secured a penalty corner in the process but Pathak shoved the ball away to deny any intrusion to the visitors.
The two wins marked the end of India’s domestic campaign in the FIH Pro League.
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