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The India vs Ghana men's hockey opener was all about the former creating opportunities, scoring and repeating the same. Hapless Ghana defenders were reduced to mere spectators as the Indian strikers ran riot to beat them 11-0 in their Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG 2022) opener in Birmingham on July 31 (Sunday).
Ace Indian drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh scored a hat-trick while Jugraj Singh registered a brace. Abhishek, Mandeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar and Akashdeep Singh scored one goal each.
India were arguably the favorites going into the match and fans were eager to see how many goals the team would score against their African counterpart. The Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist set their intent right when they scored in the first minute of the match, with Abhishek tapping in a rebound off a penalty corner chance.
Harmanpreet then scored the first of his three goals when he superbly executed a dragflick. He packed power into the shot and it was laden with such precision that the Ghana goalkeeper had no chance to stop, giving India a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of play.
Shamsher made it 3-0 in the 14th minute when he calmly slotted the ball home after latching on to a beautiful move created by Abhishek from the right flank.
India score four goals in a space of 10 minutes
The Indians looked more dangerous in the second quarter, with the forward line piling pressure on Ghana's defense. Akashdeep's fiery tomahawk shot made it 4-0, while Jugraj Singh got on the scoresheet after convering a penalty stroke to make it 5-0 in 22 minutes.
Ghana started the second half on a bright note, creating chances and denying India a couple of times, but their joy was short-lived as the Indians found a way to breach their defense.
Manpreet Singh's men ran riot as they scored four goals in the space of 10 minutes. After Harmanpreet's second penalty corner goal in the 35th minute, Nilakanta (38'), Varun (39'), and Jugraj joined the party.
By then, the direction of the match was set in stone. The Indians were relentless with Mandeep and Harmanpreet scoring to make it a nice 11-0 scoreline in the end.
