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Indian Hockey Team finished at the fifth position in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2018 held in Ipoh, Malaysia.
India was considered to be one of the favourites for a medal contention for the tournament but in the pool games, India played five matches where they suffered three defeats and won one and secured a draw in the other.
There were various ups and downs for the team. Sardar Singh and co. committed various mistakes in the match which affected their performance in the tournament.
It was a disappointing campaign for the team before the Commonwealth Games which is set to begin from 4th April 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia.
It is only the fifth time India has returned home without a medal in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Here is the analysis of all the matches which India played in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2018.
#1 India vs Argentina
Argentina edged passed India in the very first match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup by 3-2. Gonzalo Peillat's hat-trick helped Argentina in order to start the tournament with a winning campaign.
Although the Indian team lost the match, the young Indian team gave an impressive performance and tried to restrict the Olympic Gold Medalists.
Amit Rohidas gave India a silver lining to come back into the match scoring two back to back goals in the 26th and 31st minute of the match.
We can also say that it was a spirited performance by the young and dynamic team as they were down with only 10 men in the last five minutes of the match after Sumit was shown a yellow card.
Indian team restricted the Argentinians to penetrate inside the circle and were very much successful in making the moves of the Olympic Gold medallists unsuccessful.
India's next match was against England and they were looking forward to their first win in that match.
2) India vs England
India and England ended in a 1-1 draw. Shilanand Lakra scored the first goal of the match in the 14th minute of the match.
It was a disappointing performance from the Indian team as they did not capitalise the nine penalty corners which they got.
They also missed multiple chances of scoring a field goal. India played a good defensive game and came as an obstruction for the moves made by England.
However, the attacking display was poor by the team as they failed to convert various moves. The poor display of the attackers proved to be a costly one in the last quarter.
Mark Gleghorne of England made the score equal in the 52nd minute of the match. This was a heartbreak for India as it was a match which was very much in the hands of India but ended in a draw.
India were set to face the strong and experienced Australian side in the next game.
#3 India vs Australia
India had to win this match in order to be in a contention for the Gold Medal. A much experienced Australian side defeated a younger Indian side by 4-2.
The Australians dominated the entire game and did not allow India to create any sort of pressure on them.
India tried to give a decent fight to Australia after scoring back to back goals in the 52nd and 53rd minute by Ramandeep Singh.
However, it was very late to change the result of the game. Australia won it's third consecutive game and qualified for the final.
There were numerous times in the match where the Australian side was able to find out the loopholes in the Indian defense and converted their moves into goals.
Indian midfielders played a significant role in the match by restricting Australia in creating various moves.
This left the team with a must-win situation in their next match against Malaysia in order to be in medal contention.
4) India vs Malaysia
The Indians were desperate for a win in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. The young team entered the field with their heads high and wanted to give their fans a joy of glory.
India registered its first victory in the tournament by defeating Malaysia by an emphatic margin of 5-1.
India completely dominated the game and excelled in all the three fields of the game. Suraj Karkera's phenomenal saves didn't allow Malaysia to create pressure on the Indian team.
The first goal was scored by Lakra in the 10th minute. The score was equalised by Fa Saari of Malaysia in the 33rd minute.
After this, India raised their game and were unstoppable.
Gurjant Singh scored two goals in the 42nd and 57th minute respectively. India looked like a more energetic team after the second quarter.
They created various moves and were able to convert them into goals. Their game looked to be much improved after missing plenty of chances against England.
After the emphatic win against Malaysia, India headed towards their final match in the pool stages against Ireland as favorites.
#5 India vs Ireland
India was all set for their final campaign against Ireland in the group stages. They entered as favorites and their motive was to get an emphatic win in order to be in a strike for gold.
The team started off well scoring a goal in the 10th minute of the match. India created pressure on Ireland and were racing towards victory until Donoghue scored a fantastic goal to equalise the score.
Rohidas converted the penalty corner in the 26th minute which brought India back into the lead.
From here, the defense of the Indian Team disintegrated which enabled Murray and Cole to score a goal in the 36th and 42nd minute respectively.
India was under immense pressure and tried to make various moves but failed to convert them into goals.
At the fulltime whistle the score was 3-2 in the favour of Ireland which was shock for the Indian fans.
India were out of the medal contention and for the fifth time India would be returning home without a medal in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup history.
India's last match was a 5th/6th place classification playoff against Ireland.
#6 India vs Ireland - 5th/6th classification playoff
India was already out of the medal contention and was playing the 5th/6th classification playoff for their pride.
India looked as a completely different team in the playoff against Ireland. They defeated Ireland by a huge margin of 4-1.
India played well on all the fronts and did not repeat the mistakes of their last match. Varun Kumar scored the first goal of the match in the fifth minute and later on scored one more extraordinary goal in the 32nd minute.
The other two goalscorers of India were Lakra and Gurjant. The young team did not allow the Irish team to come back into the match and were successful in converting their moves into goals.
It was a campaign which the Indian team would definitely like to repeat again. The Indian team would definitely would like to rectify the mistakes of their campaign and move on to the Commonwealth Games 2018.
