When will the match take place?
The two teams are set to square off against each other at 6:30 pm IST.
India Men vs Wales Men head-to-head record
India has won all four matches it has played against Wales. The last meeting between the two side took place during the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast which India won 4-3.
PREVIEW
The Indian men’s hockey team will look to finish at the top of Group B and book its place in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham when it faces Wales in its final group match on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the men in blue bettered their already impressive head-to-head record against Canada to 27-4, flooring the side 8-0 in their third group match to move to the top of the group with seven points from three matches.
Vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh, having two of his early efforts from a penalty corner blocked, one of those fearlessly so by an onrushing Brendan Guraliuk, slotted home in the seventh minute to get India up and running.
A magical moment followed, three minutes later, as Varun Kumar set Amit Rohidas up with a pass for the ages from the right. Amit, trapping the ball at the edge of the circle, dribbled past a clueless Canadian defence to extend India’s lead.
In the 20th minute, taking advantage of a goalmouth squabble after a penalty corner, Lalit Upadhyay dragged one onto the target, the ball palmed homeward by the goalkeeper’s arm.
Gurjant Singh, who sat out the last 10 minutes of the previous game against England after seeing a yellow card, gave Indian fans more reasons to smile on this occasion as he slid valiantly across the turf to tap in a cross from Hardik Singh in the 27th minute.
At the halfway mark, India, ranked fifth in the world, led 4-0. The party, though, had just started.
In the 38th minute, Vivek Sagar Prasad opened the Canadian defence from the right for Akashdeep Singh to hammer in the fifth.
Harmanpreet moved to second on the individual scorers’ tally in CWG, behind England’s Nicholas Bandurak (7), with a sixth successful penalty corner conversion in the 56th minute.
Indian men’s hockey squad
Chief coach: Graham Reid
Mandeep and Akashdeep fired in the seventh and eighth goals respectively to complete the annihilation of a Canadian side that looked mostly clueless throughout. The only bright spot, in what was a day to forget for the John Smythe-led team, was the individual performance from Guraliuk.
“It was important for us to score as many goals as possible after the draw against England (4-4 in the last outing. We missed quite a few chances today too. But we are happy with the result. It is a good score,” India skipper Manpreet said after the game.
“There is no place for complacency. Our target is to score more, concede less and top the group.”
Where to watch India vs Wales, Commonwealth Games 2022 men’s hockey match?
The India vs Wales, Commonwealth Games 2022 men’s hockey match will be telecast live on Sony Sports Network. Live streaming will be available on Sony LIV.
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