At the ongoing Hockey World Cup in Odisha, the Indian team will play a do or die match on Sunday. India will face New Zealand at 7 pm at the Kalinga Stadium. If the Indian team overcomes the challenge of New Zealand in this crossover match, then it will enter the quarter-finals. The losing team will be out of medal contention.

This Pool-D crossover encounter will be crucial for both. India beat Wales 4-2 in their last match, while England topped the pool on the basis of better goal defence. England has already entered the top-8.

India ahead in statistics

If we look at the records of both the teams, so far 44 matches have been played between the two teams. In these, India has won 24 and New Zealand has won 15 matches. Also 5 matches have ended in a draw. Means India has won 54.55 per cent matches. While New Zealand’s winning percentage is 34.09 per cent while 11.36 per cent matches ended in a draw.
India and New Zealand have come face to face 6 times in the World Cup. Of these, India has won 3, while 2 were bagged by New Zealand. One match ended in a draw.

Tarrant, Ross and Child can turn the match

New Zealand also cannot be underestimated. Even though the team could not enter the semi-finals of the World Cup so far, it had given a tough challenge to India in the Pro-League. New Zealand defender Blair Tarrant, midfielder Nick Ross and forward Simon Child have the ability to turn matches at any time. Before the match, Indian coach Graham Reid has also said that the match against New Zealand will not be easy, so the team will have to give best performance.

Penalty corners India’s strong point but field goals important too

Talking about the Indian team, penalty corners have been India’s strong point, but the Indian team under Harmanpreet’s captaincy cannot rely only on penalties. The team also needs to make more field goals. However, Indian players have also scored field goals in this World Cup. However, a few penalty chances were also missed.

Team India has won the third-place game in Asia Hockey Cup 2022. Indian Hockey team has defeated team Japan by 1-0 and won the bronze medal. Unfortunately, India will not play the finals, rather Malaysia will take down South Korea for the gold medal on June 5. The match will begin at 5 pm.

Midfielder Rajkumar Pal had put India ahead early in the first quarter. This helped India to hold a lead over Japan. Moreover, seven penalty corners made the situation worst for Japan. India dealt with only two penalty corners but they led the circle penetration stats to 11-10. One time of the match India was down to 10 players but they managed to hold on and win their second bronze medal at the Asia Hockey Cup.

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The 11th edition of Men’s Hockey Asia Cup is being hosted by Indonesia and today the finals will be played at GBK Hockey Field in Jakarta, Indonesia. The top five teams from the previous Asia Cup India, Pakistan, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and the hosts Indonesia had qualified for the Asia Cup Hockey 2022 tournament.

Indian squad for Asia Cup Hockey 2022

Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak, Suraj Karkera

Defenders: Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Yashdeep Siwach, Abhisek Lakra, Birendra Lakra (Captain), Manjeet, Dipsan Tirkey

Midfielders: Vishnukant Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Mareeswaren Sakthivel, Sheshe Gowda BM, Simranjeet Singh

Forwards: Pawan Rajbhar, Abharan Sudev, SV Sunil (Vice Captain), Uttam Singh, S Karthi Replacement Players

Standbys: Maninder Singh, Pawan, Pardeep Singh. Ankit Pal and Angad Bir Singh.  

The Hockey Asia Cup can be viewed at the star sports network as the Star Sports India won the broadcast rights for the tournament in India. Audience can watch the final match of Asia Cup 2022 live on Star Sports Select 2 and Star Sports Select 2HD. Digital live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar.

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Indian hockey team on Wednesday defeated arch-rivals Pakistan to secure the bronze medal in the Asian Champions Trophy Hockey 2021 in Dhaka.

Fight for the third place between both countries was a neck-to-neck contest, where the Men in Blue led by Manpreet Singh came out on top and defeated the arch-rivals Pakistan by 4-3 for the third spot in the tournament.

After suffering a defeat from Japan in the semifinals, India had to play Pakistan for the bronze trophy. Earlier a couple of days ago, India had beaten Pakistan in their group match by 3-1 and entered into the semi-finals as the only unbeaten team in the round-robin stages. While in another semi-final, South Korea also beat Pakistan by 6-5 in a close encounter.

The match was a thriller from the very first quarter of the game. India opened the scoring first when Harmanpreet Singh scored from the penalty corner, but it was Pakistan’s Arfraz who equalized for the Men in Green in the first quarter. Once India was in trouble when Abdul Rana scored second for Pakistan and India went behind by 2-1. But eventually, in the final quarter, India gained the momentum and took a crucial lead of 3-2 through Varun Kumar’s penalty corner and Gursahibjit Singh’s equaliser.

And last but not least star striker and veteran player Akshdeep Singh sealed the match with India’s final goal, which put India ahead by 4-2 against arch-rivals Pakistan. Later, Pakistan also managed to score one more goal, but it was enough for India to clinch the bronze medal by thrashing Pakistan 4-3.

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For India, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Varun Kumar and Akashdeep Singh scored the goals, while Arfraz, Abdul Rana and Nadeem were the scorers for Pakistan.

On the other hand, Japan and South Korea will be fighting for the Gold medal of the Asian Champions Trophy Hockey 2021.