On the eve of the date that commemorates the pinnacle of India-Bangladesh joint efforts – December 16, Victory Day in both countries – the India hockey team seemed determined to signal the gulf in class and pedigree between themselves and their hosts at the Maulana Bhashani National Stadium here on Wednesday.
Showing no sign of wear and tear hardly 24 hrs on from their opening fixture against South Korea, a thrilling 2-2 draw in a fixture that may well repeat in the final, the Indian side turned on an exhibition of attacking play, overwhelming their hapless hosts 9-0 to taste their first win in the five-nation Hero Men’s Asian Champions Trophy Hockey ’2021 – in fact the first win for any side in the tournament, after both fixtures on the opening day finished in draws.
The bronze medalists of this year’s Tokyo Olympics, India were left to rue a raft of missed chances in the 2-2 draw with South Korea, on Tuesday.
With the feat, India dominated the league table with unbeat run securing four points from two matches while Bangladesh remained at bottom without any points playing one match.
In the day’s one sided match, Dilpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh scored two goals each while Lalit Kumar, Akashdeep Singh and Mandeep More scored one each for the winners-who started dominating early and led 3-0 at halftime.
Dilpreet Singh opened the floodgates for India in the 12th minute by field goal (1-0), while Dilpreet Singh doubled the Indian margin in the 22nd minute also by a field goal off a Sumit pass (2-0).
Jarmanpreet Singh scored the 3rd goal for India in the 28th minute from a penalty corner while Jarmanpreet Singh again made it 4-0 scoring one more goal in the 31st minute, also from a penalty corner (4-0).
In the 42nd minute, India scored the 5th goal from their 12th penalty corners while Dilpreet Singh further widen the Indian margin jn the 44th minute by a field goal (6-0),
Akashdeep Singh made it 7-0 in the in the 53rd minute while Mandeep More scored the 8th goal in the in the 54th minute from their 13th penalty corner (8-0).
Harmanpreet Singh sealed the fate of the match in the 56th minute converting another penalty corner (9-0).
India got 14 penalty corners to win the match comfortable while Bangladesh were able to make one unsuccessful attempt towards their target.
In the next match, India will play their traditional rivals Pakistan on Friday (Dec 17) 3:30 pm while Bangladesh will play Korea at 6 pm one the same day.
Pakistan played to a goalless draw against Japan in their first match to collect one points from one match.
The day’s other match between Korea and Japan ended in a 3-3 draw at the same venue Wednesday evening.
Source: United News of Bangladesh