Indian hockey team loses 4-2 to Australia, trails series 2-0

The Indian men’s hockey team lost 4-2 to Australia in its second game of the five-match series in Perth on Sunday. Having lost the opener 5-1 on Saturday, India now trail the series 2-0.

Jugraj Singh (9’) and Harmanpreet Singh (30’) scored the goals for India while Jeremy Hayward (6', 34’), Jacob Anderson (42’) and Nathan Ephraums (45') accounted for the home team’s goals.

The match got off to a cagey start with both teams feeling their way into the game. However, it was the home team Australia, placed one place above India in the hockey rankings at world No. 4, who drew first blood.

Five minutes in, the Kookaburras won the first penalty corner of the match and Jeremy Hayward stepped up to bury a low drag flick past Indian goalkeeper Bahadur Pathak to hand his team the lead.

Following the opener, the Australian team went on an all-out offensive and it took some last-ditch defending and solid goalkeeping from Pathak to keep the scoreline 1-0.

After weathering the storm, though, India drew level from a penalty corner courtesy of a Jugraj Singh belter.

The second quarter saw both teams exhibit some fine attacking hockey with each defence enduring phases of opposition onslaught. Just before the half-time hooter, however, the home team blinked as Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty corner to score his 180th international goal and handed the Indian men’s hockey team a 2-1 lead heading into the break.

The visitors’ lead was brief as Hayward converted his second penalty corner four minutes into the restart. The quarter belonged to the Aussies, who added two more goals to the scoreline through Jacob Anderson and Nathan Ephraums’s field goals.

With Australia leading 4-2, India threw caution to the wind in order to salvage the match in the final quarter but the disciplined Australian team managed the match well and allowed India only one penalty corner in the entire fourth quarter. India, however, couldn’t make it count and slumped to their second defeat of the tour.

The Indian men’s hockey team will face Australia for the third match at the same venue on Wednesday. The five-match series, part of India’s Paris 2024 Olympics preparations, concludes on April 13.