Hockey World Cup 2023: The Indian hockey team’s dream of winning the World Cup once again after 48 years remained unfulfilled. In the match played in Bhubaneswar on January 22, New Zealand defeated India 5-4 in the penalty shootout in the cross over match. It was a do or die match for India. After this defeat, Team India got out of the Hockey World Cup. Earlier, both the teams were tied 3-3 in the stipulated time. But in the penalty shootout, India fell behind the lower ranked team New Zealand. The performance of the Indian team, which is in sixth place in the hockey rankings, was very embarrassing against New Zealand. This was the reason that after taking a 2-0 lead in the first half, India gave New Zealand a chance to come back in the match. Let us tell you about those five reasons due to which India got defeated against New Zealand.
India failed to maintain the rhythm
After starting aggressively, India could not maintain the rhythm in the match. In the first quarter, both the teams remained goalless. In the second quarter, the Indian team showed speed and in the 17th minute, Lalit Upadhyay scored a goal to give Team India the lead. And in the 24th minute, Sukhjit Singh strengthened India’s lead by scoring a goal. But during this time New Zealand also intensified their attack and in the 28th minute, Sam Lane reduced India’s lead by scoring a goal.
decrease in aggression
In the third quarter, there was a lack of aggression of India and Team India was able to score only one goal. Arun Kumar scored a goal for India in the 40th minute. At the same time, New Zealand also managed to score a goal in the third quarter. Ken Russell scored a goal in the 43rd minute for the visiting team. When the game ended in the third quarter, India was leading 3-2.
India’s defense remained weak
Team India’s defense looked weak in the fourth quarter. The Indian team could not defend itself better. There was still 11 minutes left in the match to end. In such a situation, New Zealand intensified the attack. The Indian defense looked disintegrating. In the 49th minute, New Zealand’s Sean Findlay scored the third goal to bring the team on par. After this, Team India yearned to score a goal, but it could not succeed in front of New Zealand’s strong defence. In this way, both the teams were tied at 3-3 in the stipulated time.
India could not capitalize on the penalty corner
The Indian team failed to capitalize on the penalty corner against New Zealand. India got four penalty corners between 22 and 24 minutes. But Indian players failed to score every time. The poor performance of the Indian team can be gauged from the fact that India got 10 penalty corners in the entire match. Despite this, Team India’s score remained equal to 3-3 in the stipulated time.
ability remained in sudden death
Indian players are considered adept at scoring goals in penalty shoot-outs. But in this cross-over match, during the penalty shootout, Team India’s ability to score goals remained intact. Harmanpreet Singh, Rajkumar Pal and Sukhjit Singh scored for India in the penalty shoot-out. While Abhishek and Shamsher Singh missed the goal. Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjit Singh and Shamsher Singh could not score in sudden death. Rajkumar scored for India in sudden death. At the same time, Ken Russell, Sean Fiddle, Nick Woods scored goals in the penalty shoot-out for New Zealand. Sam Lane and Sam Hiha missed the goal. Nick Woods and Hayden Phillips missed the goal in sudden death. Sean Findlay and Sam Lean scored the goals. In this way, India’s ability remained intact in the penalty shoot-out and Team India had to face defeat by 4-5.
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