A structured defence and clinical attack saw India beat hosts New Zealand 3-1 in the final round-robin match of the double-leg Four Nations invitational hockey tournament here on Saturday.
India will play the final on Sunday against Belgium, which beat Japan 4-1.
It was India’s young brigade Harmanpreet Singh (2nd minute), Dilpreet Singh (12th) and Mandeep Singh (47th) who scored after the team had suffered a 2-0 loss to Belgium in its previous match.
India’s mantra was to play aggressively and that’s exactly what it did right from the start.
Its first breakthrough came as early as the second minute of the match when a circle entry fetched it a penalty corner (PC) created by Mandeep Singh.
It was Harmanpreet who stepped up for the drag flick and he was impeccable and fierce as he improvised the injection to flick the ball past New Zealand goalkeeper Richard Joyce.
The early goal undoubtedly put New Zealand on the back foot.
The next few minutes saw India hold its defence with Rupinder Pal Singh, who was rested for the match against Belgium, leading the charge of defenders as its man-to-man marking was spot on, not allowing New Zealand to make easy forays.
India colt Dilpreet, who had scored two goals in his first outing for the national side, was impressive when he picked up the assist to put the ball into the goal in the 21st minute, to make it 2-0.
India held on to the lead with a well-rounded performance. Though India conceded a PC in the 42nd minute which was well-executed by New Zealand’s Kane Russell, the team didn’t drop its momentum and continued its attack swiftly and tactically.
In the 47th minute, Mandeep was excellent in the circle to score an impressive goal to earn India a 3-1 scoreline.
“We started the match much better today and I saw individual improvement. It’s important for the players to keep pushing themselves.
“I am particularly happy about today’s win because the team did a lot of analysing ahead of the match and their keenness to improve was evident,” said chief coach Sjoerd Marijne.