The Indian men’s hockey team rode on a Harmanpreet Singh strike to avert a gloomy defeat by Argentina in the FIH Hockey Pro League encounter in Buenos Aires on Saturday. After his dramatic equaliser with just six seconds remaining, India won the shoot-out against the home side to claim the bonus point at stake.
Harmanpreet Singh’s twin penalty corner goals sandwiched Martin Ferreiro’s brace in an action-packed contest between evenly-matched teams. The draw guaranteed a point for each team, but India would walk away with the bonus point thanks largely to the brilliance of goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who did enough to deny Lucas Vila, Martin Ferreiro and Ignacio Ortiz.
Rupinder Pal Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Dilpreet Singh scored for India in the shootout after Harmanpreet Singh and Shamsher Singh were unsuccessful against veteran Argentina goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi. India trailed the home side 0-2 after Nicholas Keenan and Lucas Martinez scored on either side of Ignacio Oritz’s inability to find the mark.
Earlier, Harmanpreet gave India a 1-0 lead with a superbly executed set piece goal in the 21st minute before a Martin Ferreiro scored twice in the span of three minutes, first with a field goal and then with a penalty corner to help Los Leones take a 2-1 lead at the half-time.
Reduced to having nine men on the pitch for the final three minutes, with Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh made to cool their heels, India made good use of the video referral to deny Martin Ferreiro a hat-trick. The referral was able to pick up an infringement in the build-up and thus have the goal overturned.
“I think the most important thing from today is that we never gave up,” said Harmanpreet Singh, who was named Player of the Match. “We were fighting until the last minute, and that is why we got a result here.”
He pointed out that India cannot afford to pick up cards as frequently as it did on Saturday. Gurjant Singh and Gurinder Singh got green cards while Hardik Singh, Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh picked up yellow cards during the match. “We got lots of cards today, so I think we need to improve on that. We need to keep that in mind so in the next match, we don’t get any cards,” he said.
The result sees India consolidate its fifth place ahead in the FIH Hockey Pro League standings, with 12 points from seven matches. Argentina sits sixth, with 11 points from 11 games played.
Image: Dilpreet Singh poised to beat Argentina goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi in the shootout. Photo courtesy: FIH website.
