Hockey World Cup 2023: India need to add more spice to penalty corner conversions

A week before the start of the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, India’s chief men’s hockey coach Graham Reid said the national team has worked on penalty corner variations.

However, during the opening match against Spain on Friday, the Indian team missed as many as four penalty corners awarded during the thrilling competition.

India failed to convert the opening penalty corner earned in the first quarter but converted the second as Amit Rohidas scored on the rebound to give India a 1-0 lead against the Spanish team. India consolidated the winning margin by a field goal through Hardik Singh (2-0).

Despite having 74 per cent possession of the ball against the European side, the Indian team weren’t able to effectively make use of the penalty corners earned in the contest.

In a post-match interaction with the media in Rourkela on Friday, India’s skipper Harmanpreet Singh was candid in saying the match against the Spanish team was a big learning experience.

“We have to play better against England on Sunday,” the Indian skipper said on Friday.

The Indian team will have to be more precise in the penalty corner conversion against the stronger teams as the Hockey World Cup 2023 progresses.

At a crucial juncture, the Spanish team too missed two penalty corners, which denied the European team the chance to open up their account.

Credit goes to India’s goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak for denying the Spanish team an opportunity to make a comeback in the competition as he saved both the penalty corners.

A poor penalty corner conversion was also witnessed in the England and Wales match. England dominated the match and won by 5-0, but could have increased their margin of victory had they not missed two penalty corners in the first quarter of the Hockey World Cup 2023 match.

The lack of clinical precision even saw the French team missing as many as three penalty corners against Australia. For the record, Australia beat France by 8-0, which was the highest winning margin on Day 1 of the Hockey World Cup 2023.