Apart from cricket, the only sport that the Kiwis have truly excelled is rugby. Coming from the Oceania region, New Zealand players have been blessed with a muscular built that India knew they would need to tackle wisely, which was seen in the flurry of tackles the game just as the game kicked off. The Kiwis were seen sticking to their strengths throughout the first-half as the full backs and wingers were seen sending in numerous crosses right from the word go. 

Stephen Constantine, who had handed defensive duties to Salam Ranjan Singh and Subhasish Bose in place of the experienced Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika, found the defence shaky. While neither of the side had a height advantage over the other, with both teams having an average height of 1.79, New Zealand clearly enjoyed a technical superiority in the air. Their two strikers, Myer Bevan and Andre de Jong, remained a thorn in India’s defence throughout the entire game. And had it not been for some magnificent reflexes by Amrinder Singh, who came in place of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, and produced the save of the game in the 35th minute to fully stretch and keep out Nikko Boxall’s header from a corner, the outcome would have been different.

These past few months in football have all been about goalkeeping blunders. It all started with Bayern Munich’s Sven Ulreich gifting an easy goal to Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema in the UEFA Champions League semis. It had caused a huge uproar in the club with the goalkeeper even publicly apologizing for what looked like the blunder of the season. However, just when Real thought they couldn’t get any luckier on their way to win the UCL title for a record third time, in came Liverpool’s Loris Karius with a blasphemous performance on the biggest stage on European club football and hand Real the title in the final.

Despite the two consecutive 3-0 wins that India had registered, the score line in the Thursday’s loss didn’t aptly reflect India’s approach towards the game. While the first game against Chinese Taipei looked as easy as it could get, the one against Kenya had numerous shocks in the first-half that the African nation just could take. India needed a massive help from the relentless downpour and soggy turf in their second game which, mixed with Kenya’s lackluster finishing, was one of the biggest reasons for their 3-0 slump in that game. However, that unlikely win seemed to have given India the much-needed confidence, which was at display against the All Whites.