Indian men's hockey team suffers 1-5 thrashing at hands of Australia

The Indian mens hockey was expected to put up at least a decent fight but was hammered 15 by Australia in the first Test of the fivematch series here on SaturdayThe Australians controlled the tempo of the match from start to finish The Indian team showed some sparks in the final quarter but it was too late by thenTom Wickham 20th 38th minute scored a brace while Tim Brand 3rd Joel Rintala 37th and Flynn Ogilvie 57th were the other goalgetters for the winnersIndias lone goal was scored by Gurjant Singh in the 47th minute The Kookaburras showed positive intent from the start and took the lead as early as the third minute through Brand who shocked India early with brilliant individual skills from the left flankHe received a long pass from the deep and outfooted Jarmanpreet Singh with his stick work and pushed the ball past veteran India goalkeeper PR SreejeshAustralia continued to press hard on the Indian defence and secured their first penalty corner in the eighth minute but could not breach Sreejeshs defence this timeAlso Read IPL 2024 Surya A ray of hope for Mumbai IndiansSreejesh made a reflex save with his extended right leg to deny Joel Rintala A minute later an alert Sreejesh used his razorsharp reflexes to again keep Rintala out of target from Australias second penalty cornerIndia secured their first penalty corner in the 10th minute but failed to utilise the chance Soon Jake Whettons reverse shot was parried away by SreejeshAustralia was at their attacking best as their moves outwitted the Indian defence The home team increased its lead just five minutes into the second quarter through Wickham courtesy some sloppy defending by the IndiansAustralia denied India to settle into a rhythm with their attacking hockey and relentless pressure to go into the halfway break with a 20 cushionThe hosts continued in the same vein after the change of ends as Rintala was in the right place at the right time to get a neat deflection off Ky Willotts reverse hit seven minutes into the third quarterThe Indian defence was caught napping by the everattacking Australians as Wickham scored his second of the day with a fierce shot from the right corner past Sreejeshs extended right footDown by four goals the Indians showed urgency thereafter but lacked ideas as they failed to create clear cut chances from field playAlso Read IPL 2024 Fitagain Suryakumar expected to rescue struggling MITwice in the third quarter India came close to registering goals but on both occasion Australia goalkeeper Andrew Charter easily kept the rivals at bayAustralia continued to play highpress hockey and secured another penalty corner just at the start of fourth quarter but failed to cash in on the opportunityIn turn the Indians made quick counterattack and reduced the margin through Gurjant who scored with powerful strike from the top of the D after receiving an inchperfect pass from Mohammed Raheel India made some terrific incisive moves through the midfield to expose Australian defence in fourth quarter but failed to create any scoring chances as the Australian defence stood tallThe Indians earned backtoback penalty corners in the 51st minute but on both occasion skipper Harmanpreet Singh failed to get past Charter in front of Australian goalAustralia secured another penalty corner three minutes from the final hooter Jeremy Haywards initial flick was saved by second Indian goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak but Ogilvie sounded the board from the rebound to register the comfortable win for the hostsThe two teams will meet again on Sunday in the second Test of the Perth International Festival of Hockey considered as a preparation for the upcoming Paris OlympicsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever