Hockey World Cup 2023: India’s hope of becoming a broken winner, lost to New Zealand, out in the crossover match
Bhubaneswar. India crashed out of the title race at the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup after going down 4-5 in the penalty shootout of the crossover match against New Zealand, here on Sunday. The match ended in a 3-3 draw in regular time. Ranked sixth in the world, the Indian team could not perform at their level in front of nearly 15,000 home supporters and gave New Zealand a chance to make a comeback after taking a 2-0 lead at one stage in the opening half.
With this defeat, India’s dream of winning the World Cup title after 48 years also ended. Lalit Upadhyay (17th minute), Sukhjit Singh (24th) and Varun Kumar (40th) scored for India. Sam Lane (28th) scored a field goal for New Zealand while Kane Russell (43rd) and Sean Findlay (49th) converted a penalty corner. New Zealand will now face defending world champions Belgium in the quarter-finals. In the penalty shootout, the scores were tied after the first five sets of strikes, and the match eventually went out of India’s hands in ‘sudden death’.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh had a golden chance to seal India’s win in ‘sudden death’ but failed to convert. Experienced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh pulled off some brilliant saves to put India down 2-3. After this, he was injured during another rescue in ‘Sudden Death’. After this, Krishna Pathak played the role of goalkeeper in the next three rounds of ‘sudden death’. In the end, Shamsher Singh missed the goal and Sam Lane scored to give New Zealand the win. In regulation time, India earned 11 penalty corners and converted two of them, while New Zealand got just two penalty corners.
India had many chances to score but the finishing skills of the front line were lacking. India went on the attack right from the start of the match and Mandeep Singh, who was injured during practice, was brilliant in the New Zealand circle. India soon doubled the lead in the 24th minute through Sukhjit Singh’s fourth penalty corner. Harmanpreet’s drag-flick was blocked by the New Zealand goalkeeper but Sukhjeet converted a brilliant chance from the rebound.
New Zealand struck back a minute before half time with a goal from Sam Lane. He hit the player’s cross to the left of the Indian goal post with the team. New Zealand were leading 2-1 at the time of the interval. New Zealand pressed for an equalizer in the third quarter and came inside the Indian ‘D’ on a few occasions but the home team converted a penalty corner in the 41st minute to take a two-goal lead. India earned three penalty corners in the third quarter, in which Varun Kumar converted the third chance.
Kane Russell converted a penalty corner just a minute later, leaving India with a one-goal lead. In the last quarter, New Zealand showed strong spirit and earned a penalty corner during the 49th minute of play. Sean Findlay converted a Hayden Phillips strike to equalise. A minute later, goalkeeper Krishan Pathak made a brilliant save on a mistake by the Indian defense to save the team from going behind.
