India began the Harendra Singh era with a thumping 4-0 win over arch-rivals Pakistan to open their Champions Trophy campaign on a winning note in Breda, Netherlands, on Saturday.
Pakistan were in the contest for almost 50 minutes but the Indians scored three goals in the last six minutes to register a big win. Ramandeep Singh opened India’s account in the 26th minute and Dilpreet Singh (54th), Mandeep Singh (57th) and Lalit Upadhyay (60th) completed the tally.
With India playing for the first time under Harendra, there was much curiosity about the formation and the way the team would shape up.
The Indians took their time to get going as PR Sreejesh and his men concentrated on getting their structure absolutely right before beginning to push forward.
The first 10 minutes therefore saw a lot of long aerial balls played by the Indian defence but that hardly made any impact on the game.
The only time India looked like building a meaningful move was when Ramandeep Singh stole the ball at the half line and ran towards the opposition striking circle. But the experienced striker was guilty of not releasing the ball quickly enough in two-against-one situation and the opportunity went abegging.
It was only in the last five minutes of the first quarter that the Indians began showing more purpose in attack and Mandeep Singh earned the team’s first penalty corner. Harmanpreet’s low shot was well saved by Imran Butt but Harendra Singh’s boys were beginning to stamp their authority.
Lalit Upadhyay could not give the right direction to a pass from Sardar Singh, who started in the midfield on his return to the Indian team, and his stick-work to earn the second penalty corner in the very first minute of the second quarter was wasted by bad implementation of an indirect variation.
Ramandeep Singh had a golden opportunity to put India ahead in the 18th minute when Dilpreet Singh made a good run inside the striking circle from the right but the striker could not read the cross. However, the 25-year-old was in the right position seven minutes later as he deflected Simaranjeet Singh’s reverse hit from the left to put India ahead.
Defending in numbers
The goal, however, brought the Pakistan team out of its shell and they responded immediately with two probing attacks and India were lucky that Amit Rohidas’ mistake in trapping the ball inside their own striking circle did not cost them dearly.
It looked like Pakistan finally managed to find an equaliser soon after half time but India were quick to seek a referral for a wild swing from one of the opposition striker before the goal was scored and it was upheld by the video umpire.
A minute later Sreejesh made a fine save to keep his team ahead and India would have been relieved to maintain that advantage going into the fourth quarter. The Indian skipper was once again the saviour when he blocked a deflection from Muhammad Umar Butta three minutes into the quarter.
To their credit, the Indians always defended in numbers and that meant that the Pakistan forward line didn’t get enough space to build attacks on the counter.
During the break before the fourth quarter, Harendra insisted that the players concentrate on pass-run-pass-run instead of holding the ball for too long to tire out the opponents. And it was one such well calculated pass that helped the Indians double the lead.
Surendra Kumar started the move from India’s circle with a fine interception and Simranjeet found Dilpreet Singh at the top of the striking circle and the 17-year-old made no mistake in rounding off the Pakistan custodian to score.
With Pakistan withdrawing Butt in the last four minutes to push for goals, Mandeep Singh scored the third a minute later and Upadhyay rounded off the tally with a deflection off Ramandeep’s long pass at the stroke of the final hooter.