Analysis of India's performance in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2018
Indian Hockey Team finished at the fifth position in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2018 held in Ipoh, Malaysia.
India was considered to be one of the favourites for a medal contention for the tournament but in the pool games, India played five matches where they suffered three defeats and won one and secured a draw in the other.
There were various ups and downs for the team. Sardar Singh and co. committed various mistakes in the match which affected their performance in the tournament.
It was a disappointing campaign for the team before the Commonwealth Games which is set to begin from 4th April 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia.
It is only the fifth time India has returned home without a medal in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
Here is the analysis of all the matches which India played in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2018.
#1 India vs Argentina
Argentina edged passed India in the very first match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup by 3-2. Gonzalo Peillat's hat-trick helped Argentina in order to start the tournament with a winning campaign.
Although the Indian team lost the match, the young Indian team gave an impressive performance and tried to restrict the Olympic Gold Medalists.
Amit Rohidas gave India a silver lining to come back into the match scoring two back to back goals in the 26th and 31st minute of the match.
We can also say that it was a spirited performance by the young and dynamic team as they were down with only 10 men in the last five minutes of the match after Sumit was shown a yellow card.
Indian team restricted the Argentinians to penetrate inside the circle and were very much successful in making the moves of the Olympic Gold medallists unsuccessful.
India's next match was against England and they were looking forward to their first win in that match.