Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2016: Australia defeat India 5-1 in their opening fixture
Coming from yesterday’s 2-1 victory over Japan, the Indian team was handed a crushing defeat by World No.1 Australia at the 25th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
The Blues started well, making a couple of impressive forward plays before Blake Govers put the Aussies in front in the 5th minute, from the first penalty corner of the match.
However, this lead was short-lived as three minutes later, Rupinder Pal converted from India’s 1st penalty corner fetched by Mandeep, to cancel the early lead. In the minutes that followed, things looked good for India as they continued to push forward. Sunil had a goalward shot saved by Charter brilliantly, at his near post.
The deadlock was broken in the 13th minute by the men in yellow, with Jamie Dwyer delivering a clinical ball across the face of the goal for Jake Whetton to drive home thus marking his 100th appearance for the national team in perfect fashion.
At the end of the 1st quarter, the teams were evenly poised despite the scoreboard favouring the Aussies 2-1.
A disappointing outing
After a decent start to the 2nd quarter, the Indians were dislodged yet again as several unforced errors saw Eddie Ockenden finding space in the final third and stretching the Australian lead to 2 goals with a 108km/hr blinder in the 20th minute.
Fortune showed no signs of improvement for India and the scoreboard ticked once again in the 26th minute, with Dwyer showing great awareness to find Simon Orchard at the far post, who made no mistake in driving it past a helpless Harjot guarding the woodwork.
Trailing 1-4, the Indians put up a good display but failed to achieve the needful in a goalless 3rd quarter. In a rather disappointing outing, the Indian story was summed up perfectly in the 53rd minute when Matt Gohdes tapped in a diving finish to take the scoreline to 5-1 after Rupinder had pulled wide from a penalty corner in the 49th minute.