Eight-time Olympic-gold medalist, India is set to take on the current world champions, Australia in the final of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2016 at the Azlan Shah Stadium in Malaysia, later today. The 'Men in Blue’ thumped the host nation by 1-6 yesterday to advance to the ultimate fixture of the tournament.
Catch India vs Australia Hockey Live Score Updates here with Sportskeeda.
India has been highly inconsistent throughout the course of the coveted competition. Although they set the tone of the tournament in a positive note after beating Japan by 1-2 in their inaugural match of the competition, the 'Men in Blue’ slumped to a 5-1 defeat against Australia in the very next match.
Soon after, they went on to demolish Canada and their arch rivals, Pakistan by 1-3 and 1-5 respectively, only to lose their penultimate group stage match against New Zealand by 2-1.
Australia, on the other hand, has maintained a perfect group stage record in the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. They have mauled almost each and every team in the tournament registering a 5-1 victory against India, 1-5 against Malaysia, 4-0 against Pakistan, 1-0 against New Zealand, 3-1 against Japan and finally, 3-0 against Canada.
There is not a shade of doubt in anyone's mind that the island nation goes into the final match of the tournament as the overwhelming favourites against the 'Men in Blue’.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2016: India vs. Australia 2016 Match Details
TV Channel: Star Sports 1/HD and Star Sports 3/HD.
Match Date: 16 April 2016, Saturday.
Match Time: 18.15 IST, 13.45 GMT.
Match Venue: Azlan Shah Stadium, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2016: Group stage, Final Points Table
| Pos. | Teams | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | Points |
| 1 | Australia | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 | India | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| 4 | Malaysia | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | Canada | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | Japan | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Team News:
India: Goalkeepers– Harjot Singh, Akash Chikte, Defenders– Rupinder Pal Singh, Jasjit Singh Kular, Kothajit Singh, Surender Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Midfielders– Danish Mujtaba, Chinglensena Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh (Captain), SK Uthappa, Harjeet Singh and Forwards– Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Ramandeep Singh and Nikkin Thimmaiah.
Australia: Goalkeepers— Andrew Charter, Tyler Lovell, Defenders— Chris Ciriello, Mark Knowles, Tim Deavin, Fergus Kavanagh, Matthew Dawson, Andrew Philpott, Josh Beltz, Midfielders— Simon Orchard, Eddie Ockenden (Captain), Tristan White, Aran Zalewski, Kiel Brown and Forwards— Jamie Dwyer, Glenn Turner, Jake Whetton, Kieran Grovers, Jeremy Hayward, Trent Mitton, Tom Craig, Dylan Wotherspoon, and Blake Govers.
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