Champions Trophy 2016 | India’s final hope hangs by a thread as Australia smash four

Australia start slowly

1-4, 0-5 were the scorelines the last two times India met Australia. A heavy loss for the Word No.7 team was the predicted result, but the first quarter of the match, turned out to be a total disappointment. 1 circle entry, 1 shot, and 1 penalty corner were the contributions from the World Champions, while India also managed just one circle entry of their own. Having secured their place in the final, Australia started the match in a low gear, and moved the ball relatively slowly. India’s defence, which has been an Achilles heel for the team, stood tall against the Australian attack in the first quarter, and kept the match goalless.

After an underwhelming first 15 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, the Kookaburras turned on their style in the second quarter and scored two goals against the Indians. 11 circle entries, 11 shots, and five penalty corners came from the World Champions in the second quarter, while Roelant Oltmans’ India had a big zero in all these statestics. But the one that hurt them the most were the goals. Four penalty corners in five minutes, and a couple of close shaves were the sign of things to come. Eventually, the Kookaburras scored from their fifth penalty corner of the match in the 20th minute with Trent Mitton flicking one past PR Sreejesh.

At 2-o, the match was effectively over. The only thing left for India in the next 30 minutes was to escape without suffering an embarrassment. But, stopping Australia from scoring was a big task, and the only way was to score a few. Within five minutes into the third quarter, the scoreline became 0-3. Flynn Ogilvie’s argentine-backhand from the shooting circle beat Sreejesh as the Indian players sunk to their knees. Although Australia dominated, India improved their play bit by bit and found the all-important penalty corners at the fag end of the quarter. VR Raghunath gave India some hope by converting the second penalty corner in the 45th minute, but even before the Indian fans finished their celebrations, Australia scored their fourth. Tristan White pushed one past Sreejesh, in what was a counter-attack from the World Champions, and it ended up being a very familiar scoreline for India.

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