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The 2018 Hockey World Cup began at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. India stepped on to the platform in grand style by brandishing an attacking style of hockey against South Africa. The hosts scored goals on a regular basis and drubbed the 15th-ranked South Africa by a 5-0 margin.
Indian coach Harendra Singh reiterated his stand during the press conference earlier as the lads will play an attacking style of Hockey and will never compromise on the intent to score goals.
The players responded brilliantly to their coach‘s words after Mandeep Singh capitalized on the rebound from a penalty corner to keep his composure and took his time before striking the back of the net in the tenth minute.
Akashdeep fired in India’s second in the 12th minute when he latched on to Simranjeet‘s deflection inside the circle to thrust it into the goal.
Simranjeet poked the ball past the diving South African goalkeeper Rassie Pieterse after some brilliant work from Mandeep Singh who sent a beautiful pass from the line.
Lalit Upadhyay got in before his marker to deflect the ball goal bound from Manpreet Singh‘s long-range strike into the circle to post India‘s fourth goal in the 45th minute.
Simranjeet Singh discovered himself at the exact place at the exact time to knock the ball in from a rebound following a penalty corner in the 46th minute.
Harendra would like to work on the nuances which India had in their initial campaign when they take on Belgium the third-ranked team in the World on December 2nd. A few defensive lapses came in from Harmanpreet who had one good drag-flick which got saved off the line by the South African defender.
Cirello needs to focus his attention on the trapping of the penalty corner as we saw two opportunities missed today. As stated by Harendra during the break, final decision making when the player is in the striking circle needs to in a calm and composed manner with more opportunities to seek the short corner’s.
Former hockey greats like Dhanraj Pillay and Viren Rasquinha as well as iconic cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Mohammad Kaif expressed their support to the Indian team who are looking to bring the World Cup home after 43 years.
Here are some twitter reactions to India’s handsome victory over South Africa.
