Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Vikram Crestfallen As India Get Trashed By New Zealand

India were constantly kept under pressure in the second half (Photos courtesy of Megat Muzzammil)

It was a very disappointing day for Indian Hockey as they were literally torn apart by New Zealand at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh. The score line 7-3 was something very hard to swallow for the Indian fans present and the body language of the Arjun Halappa and co after the match simply exposed everything we needed to know about their disappointments. Despite taking the lead three times, India finally fell to the resilience of the New Zealand players as they battled hard to earn a deserving victory.

The first half was an even game although Harendra Singh’s men looked the more dangerous side. Shivendra Singh and Gurvinder Chandi were causing all sorts of problems to the Kiwis’ defence and eventually India took the lead in the 20th minute with a very direct approach that paid dividends. Ravipal launched a spectacular through pass which was duly finished well by SV Sunil to give his team the lead.

New Zealand were quick to respond as Nicholas Wilson smashed in the equaliser past Bharat Chetri. But Gurvinder Singh Chandi gave back the lead to India and the same story was repeated as Blair Hilton ensured that the Kiwis had equal bragging rights as they headed for the break.

The first few minutes after the break were all India and Gurvinder Singh proved his credentials once again as he went on a mazy run down the byline before chipping the ball over the onrushing New Zealand goalkeeper. However, little did anyone know that a tornado was about to land on the Indians. Six minutes later, Andrew Hayward once again leveled terms for the Kiwis.

In the 52nd minute, New Zealand finally took the lead after Matt L’huillier found the mark with a penalty corner. Five minutes later, Andrew Hayward added his second goal of the game to give his side a convincing 5-3 lead. Worse still for India, the rampant Kiwis added their sixth goal just a minute later as Shay Neal capitalized on a defensive error by Diwakar to score New Zealand’s sixth goal of the match. And the humiliation for India was completed in the 64th minute as Blair Hilton smashed in his side’s seventh goal of the match as New Zealand won just their second match in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup with a spellbinding score of 7-3.

The defeat added more salt on their already deep wound after they also lost to bitter rivals, Pakistan yesterday. The last two matches exposed how India tend to slow down their game in the second half to allow opposition team to penetrate their defence and experienced Vikram Pillay definitely agrees with it.

Harendra Singh has to raise back the spirits within the Indian team before Sunday (Photos courtesy of Megat Muzzammil)

“We were very bad in the game against New Zealand just now. We played some very good hockey in the first half, one touch hockey to be clear. But the second half was a total difference. They (New Zealand) came out and applied a lot of pressure on us and that eventually cracked our inexperienced defensive line-up. Our last three games have been like that. Malaysia, Pakistan and New Zealand have all caused problems for us in the second half and it is something we will definitely need to work on. Anyhow, today’s defeat is absolutely unacceptable as far as we are concerned.”

When asked whether yesterday’s morale-blowing defeat to Pakistan played a part in their disappointing performance today, Vikram was rather conservative with his response.

“Not really. Yesterday was indeed a bad game but it did not affect today’s match directly. Like i mentioned, teams probably know our weakness as they tend to pressure us more in the second half. Our defence went haywire and as a result, the margin of today’s defeat is at a whole new level.”

India’s hopes of qualifying have now ended and even a 3rd place battle remains out of their hands. Nevertheless, Vikram insisted that they will now be ready to anything that comes ahead this Sunday and promised the Indian Hockey fans in Malaysia as well as in India that a final spirited showing can be expected from them as the Sultan Azlan Shah prepares to draw it’s closure.

“It’s not in our hands now. All we can do is have two good days of rest and monitor the other team’s result. Whether it’s 3rd placing match or a 5th placing match, we want to perform well this Sunday for our fans in Malaysia and India. That’s a promise.”