India went down fighting 2-3 to Olympic champions Argentina in the opening match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey in Ipoh, Malaysia on Saturday.
In a game of five penalty corners, star drag-flicker Gonzalo Peillat (13th, 23rd, 33rd minute) scored a hat-trick for Argentina while Amit Rohidas (24th, 32nd) converted twice for India in a thrilling encounter that ebbed and flowed.
The young Indian side started on the front foot, forcing Argentina’s goalkeeper Vivaldi into a string of early saves. But the more experienced Argentinean side withstood the pressure and took the lead toward at the fag end of the first quarter through a well-taken PC by Peillat. He repeated the feat early in the second quarter.
To India’s credit, they fought back well with Rohidas impressing from the set-piece routines. He equalised for India shortly after the third quarter began, but Peillat was a thorn in Sjoerd Marijne’s side - reestablishing Argentina’s lead within a minute of Rohidas’ second strike.
Play was stopped for 45 minutes in fourth quarter due to heavy rain and lightning. After resumption, India were reduced to 10 men when Sumit was shown a yellow card with less than seven minutes to play.
Talwinder Singh almost found the equaliser for India towards the end but Argentina’s defence stood tall to deny the striker as the final hooter went off within seconds.
India will now face defending champions England on Sunday. The other teams taking part in the tournament are Australia, Ireland and Malaysia.
India are fielding a young team here in the absence of key players like Akashdeep Singh, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Manpreet Singh and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Drag-flick specialists Rupinder Pal Singh and Harmanpreet Singh too have been rested.
In case you missed the match live, this is how it unfolded.
(With PTI inputs)