With this loss, India are more or less out of the tournament. There's no way they can make it to the next round. They needed to win at least two games. A disappointing end, really. The first game could have been clinched and this was just an embarrassment.
Despite the game being so lopsided, Amjyot Singh played all 40 minutes of the game. He registered 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists but no doubt, fatigue caught up with up at some point as he also recorded 10 turnovers for the game.
Once again, Amjyot Singh has played 10 minutes of the quarter and the team has gone nowhere. Just scoring 9 points and allowing 29. Surely Amjyot should be sitting in the final period, given the lead is at 40 points.
The disastrous quarter continues. Only a minute left, India have only scored 7 points and have allowed 27. Trail by a huge unassialable margin of 42 points with just over a quarter to go.
Against Cameroon, India led by 24 at the half. In this game, however, their trailing by 22 heading to the locker room. It's been a disappointing half, to say the least, especially the second quarter, where India only managed 9 points.
The lead has now ballooned to 20 as India have only scored 7 points in the second quarter, while allowing 23 with two minutes still to go in the quarter.
India register a couple of buckets via Satnam and Jeevanantham Pandi but the team simiply can't stop England from scoring. England score 4 points as well, maintaining their lead at 26-19.
Last four minutes of the quarter, India score four points and let England score five. No ground made. At the end of the first quarter, India trails England 15-19, despite starting 11-4.
England aren't letting up so easy. They once again score a couple of buckets in succession, this time by substitute Jamell Anderson. They still trail 8-11.
On Day 3 of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Indian Men’s Basketball Team is set to face England in their second match of the group phase in Pool B. Just like India, England too lost their opening fixture to Scotland (65-78).
India suffered a gut-wrenching loss in their first game of the tournament, giving up a 24-point halftime lead to lose by nine points (87-96) against Cameroon. In what was a very winnable game, Amjyot Singh was the team’s best player as he recorded 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on 44.0% shooting from the field. The team had other valuable contributions from Aravind Annadurai (15 P), Joginder Singh (14 P) and Justin Joseph (14 P) but India couldn’t knock down buckets when it mattered the most, which is when Cameroon were making their second half comeback.
This fixture is a must-win for India, if they want to make it to the Qualifying Finals of this tournament.
Other than Amritpal Singh, who has announced that he has suffered a knee injury, here’s the available roster for the game: Yadwinder Singh (Captain), Ravi Bhardwaj, Arvind Arumugam, Satnam Singh, Arshpreet Singh Bhullar, Aravind Annadurai, Akilan Pari, J Justin, P Jeevanantham, Joginder Singh, and Amjyot Singh. The team is headed by coach Rajinder Singh.
