Bhubaneswar The Indian fans were in for heady times as the hosts ran riot scoring 10 goals past minnows Russia to open their campaign on a rampaging note in their Pool A encounter of the FIH Men’s Series Finals at the Kalinga Stadium here Thursday night.
The win was a perfect gift for Indian captain Manpreet Singh who was playing his 250th game in national colours. Harmanpreet Singh and Akashdeep Singh scored a brace each while Simranjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Gursahibjit Singh scored one apiece.
India started on a dominant note in the first quarter and earned two back-to-back penalty corners in the third minute. However, they failed to convert with Harmanpreet’s second shot coming off the top left corner of the post.
However, the hosts didn’t have to wait long as Nilakanata gave India the lead in the 13th minute. A Gursahibjit effort was blocked away by a Russian defender, the ball went straight to Akashdeep whose shot was deflected for Nilakanta to tap in.
Simranjeet doubled India’a lead six minutes later. Local boy Birendra Lakra brilliantly intercepted a move and then found Sumit with a through ball. The latter flicked the ball to Simranjeet who scored off a rebound.
The stadium once again erupted in joy, but this time for another local boy Amit who scored from India’s third penalty corner to make it 3-0.
India’s dominance over the 21st ranked Russia continued in the second half too as the hosts made it 4-0 from their fifth penalty corner in the 32nd minute with Harmanpreet converting.
Varun then inscribed his name in the scoresheet as the Punjab lad netted India’s fifth two minutes later.
The scoring spree continued as the Men in Blue added three more goals in quick succession. A brilliant combo from Nilakanta and Vivek Sagar Prasad found Simranjeet who in turn fed Gursahibjit to make it 6-0 in the 37th minute.
Akashdeep scored India’s seventh in the 42nd minute off a stinging pass from Manpreet and then teenage prodigy Vivek rounded off the third quarter with another goal.
Harmanpreet scored his second of the match three minutes in the final quarter, again off a penalty corner. The visitors did try to put some pressure on the home side with some sporadic counter-attacks but their brief magic period was shut down when Akashdeep netted his second with a brilliant backhand flick from the top of the ‘D’ four minutes from time.
“We haven’t seen Russia play before and they were difficult to gauge. But I should credit the boys as they put up a great performance today (Thursday) but as you know the coach is never happy,” coach Graham Reid said after the match.
“We have a video analyst which we will see tomorrow morning and see what comes up before our next match against Poland.”
PNN