India men's hockey at Olympics today (25 July): When and where to watch (IST), full squad, predictions

Eight-time champions India opened their Olympics 2021 men's hockey campaign with a bang on Saturday. India defeated New Zealand 3-2 in their first match.

The Indians are placed in Pool A along with Australia (No 1), Argentina (7th), New Zealand (8th), Spain (9th) and hosts Japan (15th). Winning full points against all four lower-ranked teams would be pivotal for the team to get a good draw in the quarterfinals.

India will face world No. 1 Australia in their second outing on July 25th. Graham Reid's camp is a good mixture of young and experienced players. India have performed well in the last five years. They have rehearsed well and looked optimistic since their dismal run at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The Aussies have been regarded as the most consistently successful hockey team over the years.

The 2004 Olympic champions finished sixth at Rio 2016. But Colin Batch's squad are the favorites to win a gold medal this year.

One of the undisputed greats of Australian hockey, Eddie Ockenden will be the player to watch out for. He rarely puts a foot wrong no matter where he is deployed on the field.

India booked their ticket to Tokyo with two victories over Russia in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers in 2019, winning 4-2 and 7-1 in Bhubaneswar.

India have played Australia on several occasions. During their last encounter, India won the match with a bonus point in a 3-1 shootout victory.

‘Brace’ ✌️ yourselves, Harmanpreet is here! 🔥The vice-captain helped #IND recover with a crucial 3-2 lead against #NZL in the Pool A encounter in men's #hockey. #BestOfTokyo#Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | @13harmanpreet pic.twitter.com/LkS6ULAwy1

— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) July 24, 2021

Australian hockey team:

Goalkeeper: Andrew Charter

Daniel Beale, Timothy Brand, Tom Craig, Matthew Dawson, Blake Govers, Jeremy Hayward, Tim Howard, Dylan Martin, Trent Mitton, Eddie Ockenden, Flynn Ogilvie, Lachlan Sharp, Josh Simmonds, Jake Whetton, Aran Zalewski

Reserves: Tom Wickham, Josh Beltz, Tyler Lovell

Indian Hockey team:

Goalkeeper: P.R. Sreejesh

India: Manpreet Singh (C), Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh

Rankings: (India 4, Australia-1)

India vs Australia Overall matches

Overall Head to Head:

Matches: 128

Australia: 85

India: 22

Drawn: 21

Olympic Head to Head:

Matches: 10

Australia: 5

India: 3

Drawn: 2

Prediction:

Australians are the overwhelming favorites, but the Indians are not far behind to pull off a magical show. Both India and Australia have opened their Olympic campaigns with a win. Australia powered past hosts Japan 5-3, while India fought back from a goal down to beat New Zealand.