India get off to a winning start on New Zealand hockey tour
Aggressive India brushed aside the Black Sticks A team 3-1 in Auckland to give a winning start to their six-match tour of New Zealand. Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Nikkin Thimmaiah scored for the tourists, while the home side pulled one back through a penalty.
The hosts went on the offensive early and earned back-to-back penalty corners testing Indian goalie PR Sreejesh, who displayed good reflexes and presence of mind to thwart both the attempts.
Ramandeep set up India’s opening goal in the third minute as he dribbled his way past the home side’s defence to pass to forward Akashdeep, who made no mistake. The Black Sticks A came back strongly in their bid to score the equaliser, but India’s defence was clearly up to the task.
Ramandeep sneaked into the Kiwi defence-line and scored a spectacular field goal to put India 2-0 up in the 20th minute, following which an inspired Gurjinder Singh weaved into the opponent’s half to set up forward Nikkin Thimmaiah’s goal six minutes later.
The third quarter saw New Zealand keep the ball in the Indian half to create goal-scoring opportunities, and in the 36th minute it paid off in the form of a penalty corner which they successfully converted.
India will play New Zealand A again on October 3.