The Indian men’s hockey team began with a bang after a long break. On Sunday, inspired by Vivek Sagar Prasad’s two goals, the side led by PR Sreejesh thumped Germany 6-1 in Krefeld. This was the first match in the European tour.
For a side which spent long time in Covid-19 enforced lockdown, the return to competition and performance was brisk. India’s goal scorers were Nilakanta Sharma (13′), Vivek Sagar Prasad (27′, 28′), Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (41′), Akashdeep Singh (42′) and Harmanpreet Singh (47′) as they outplayed the hosts.
Eager to perform, the Indian team played with intent. They went on attack mode right from start, putting pressure on the German defence. After creating goal-scoring opportunities inside the striking circle, India earned a penalty corner in the 13th minute of the first quarter. Midfielder Nilakanta Sharma scored. However, German forward Constantin Staib scored an equaliser (1-1) at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started with the hosts putting pressure on India. They earned two back-to-back penalty corners in the initial minutes. The Indian side made brilliant saves and created quick counter-attack which led to midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad scoring snap goals in the 27th and 28th minutes for India to take a 3-1 lead at half-time.
In the third quarter, Germany started on the front foot again. They earned six penalty corners. However, the Indian defence, led by goalie PR Sreejesh, thwarted each attempt.
Soon after a solid display in defence, Indian forwards Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Akashdeep Singh netted scored brilliant goals in the 41st and 42nd minutes to put the World No. 4 Indian team in the driver’s seat. India led 5-1 at the end of the third quarter.
Another glorious opportunity came for Indian in the 47th minute. Off a penalty corner, a direct flick from Harmanpreet Singh gave India a 6-1 lead.
“It was absolutely thrilling to play after so long and the coach’s advice (Graham Reid) to us was ‘go and enjoy the game’ and so we did. This was the same German side who are playing the FIH Hockey Pro League matches, and I feel we did well against this squad, considering we were playing after a year. We had worked a lot on individual skills and had planned tactical play against Germany back in the camp. We just had to execute it today and it was really exciting to be back with a win,” said Sreejesh.
The next match will be on Tuesday.
