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Manpreet Singh's team will have history on their side when they take on the Blacksticks in a last-four encounter at Gold Coast. On August 2, 2014, India had beaten New Zealand in the semifinal of the Commonwealth Games and will be looking for a repeat performance tomorrow.
India had staged a remarkable fightback in Glasgow after New Zealand had taken a 2-0 lead. In the absence of captain Sardar Singh who was serving a suspension, India came back strongly with goals from Rupinder Pal Singh, Ramandeep Singh, and Akashdeep Singh who scored the winner.
India went on to win the silver medal in Glasgow after losing to Australia, while New Zealand went down fighting to England in the bronze medal match and ended fourth.
The final minutes have been crucial for India in three of their pool encounters. While Pakistan struck with a controversial drag-flick at the death to stun India, Manpreet Singh's boys reversed the trend with SV Sunil sinking the Welsh with a goal in the 58th minute.
What transpired in the dying minutes yesterday, however, was sufficiently dramatic to obliterate all other memories with regard to India's campaign at Gold Coast. Indian hockey fans around the world are still in a state of elation post the England match, and rightly so.
The win would have done a world of good to the team's confidence and India will look to carry the momentum forward as they take on an in-form New Zealand side in the semifinal.
India have won silver in the last two editions of the Commonwealth Games and will look to strike gold this time around. Prior to that, however, Sjoerd Marijne and his team have to fine tune India's strategies to counter the lethal drag-flicks of Kane Russell and ensure that they themselves find the target and outplay their lower-ranked adversaries.
Here is how you can follow the action.
Event: Men's Hockey
Venue: Gold Coast
Date: 13 April 2018
Time: 3:00 pm Indian Standard Time (IST)
Telecast: Sony Six/Sony Ten 2/Sony Ten 3
Live Streaming: Sony Liv
Live Updates: Sportskeeda
