India 6-3 Germany, FIH Pro League Highlights: Karthi, Abhishek score two in India’s second win over World Champion

India will play Australia on Wednesday which will be its last match in the mini-tournament in Rourkela. It has won all three so far and David John would love his side to complete the sweep.

Tonight’s win takes India on top of the FIH Pro League standings. Harmanpreet Singh extends his lead at the top of the scorer’s chart while Selvam Karthi enters the top six list with his fifth goal tonight.

Australia and Germany will face off on Tuesday. Sportstar will keep you updated on all the action from the competition. See you next time!

“Well obviously, a tough loss. We were unable to keep up with the intensity. Credit to them for the win. We will come back stronger tomorrow against Australia.”

Selvam Karthi wins the Player of the Match. He scored two goals today.

“Feeling proud. Thank you to the Rourkela crowd for all the encouragement,” he says after the award.

India wins! It’s third win in as many games. It is making a habit of paying these high-scoring encounters. Its trailed again today. Conceded an early goal. But four quick goals in the second period allowed it to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Germany did threaten to come back with a goal from Hellwig. But India closed the match out in the last quarter in clinical fashion.

Tom Grambusch just about prevents Sukhjeet from scoring a seventh goal. That should be the last meaningful play of the match.

Rabichandra is vying for the ball near the German circle but the umpire blows his whistle for an infringement by the Indian.

Dilpreet picks the ball from Prinz. India with a chance to counter.

Peillet gets the second corner but he hits the ball wide.

Peillet’s flick rams straight into Manpreet. Phenomenal job in rushing from the Indian. It came off the leg so another try for Germany.

Referral successful. The ball indeed hit Nilam Xess on the foot.

Hinrichs asks for a referral. He is asking that the ball hit an Indian player’s foot. The umpire had awarded a free hit to India for a stick tackle.

Germany has removed its keeper. 11 outfield players in search of a goal.

India with a PC variation. The injection is slow. Harmanpreet and the injector then play a to and fro. The ball lands back to Harmanpreet and sweeps it at the goal. Saved by Stadler.

Penalty corner for India. Karthi again gets a long ball in the circle and gets tripped by Barry.

A free hit for Germany. Karthi’s reverse hit instead of testing the goal hits Sukhjeet.

Manpreet tries to slap a shot into the circle but the ball is nicked off him.

India wins a long corner.

Rabichandra gets a green card. He will be off for two minutes. Chance for Germany to stretch India with a man advantage.

India has a sixth goal. Surely that’s the match for India. Dilpreet puts the ball into the circle from near the centre line. Sukhjeet collects and he senses that the German defence has been trapped. He squares it to Abhishek to his left. The forward does the rest.

Bosserhoff steals the ball from Abhishek in the German half. Could have been another dangerous attack by India.

India keeps the ball with its defence. Not letting Germany a chance to get the ball.

Selvam Karthi! He finds his second goal! He has to thank Tom Grambusch there for the gift though. Jarmanpreet plays the sqaure pass from the right side. Grambusch was in position to stop it easily. But the German missed it. To his dismay, Karthi was in front of goal and needed no second invitation.

The last quarter underway! Germany with the ball.

Just the solitary goal from Hellwig in this quarter. One more period of 15 minutes left. Can India hold on

Struthoff shown a green card. He will be off for two minutes.

Harmanpreet intercepts a pass and leads ahead. He does not see an option to build the attack further and very cleverly he holds the ball and slows the pace of the game. India keeps the ball.

Another save by Pawan! He stops Hinrichs’ shot from point blank range.

Struthoff steals the ball for Germany. Vivek and Sukhjeet combine on an aerial pass as India threatened with an attack.

Vivek with a successful tackle in the circle to win the ball for India.

SAVED! Pawan resolute as always. India keeps its lead. Jarmanpreet too with a valiant block off the line.

Penalty corner awarded! Germany keeps its referral!

Germany has asked for a referral. It is asking for a foot in the circle. Looks like it has hit Nilam Xess on the foot.

Harmanpreet with solid defence under pressure. He steals the ball from Wigand in the Indian circle.

Peillet steals the ball from India and turns the possession over.

Abhishek leads a counter attack for India. He keeps the defenders guessing the direction and wins a free hit deep in the German half.

Saved by Pawan! Peillet with the first shot followed by another by Kaufmann. Pawan wass forced to make a save on the second shot and he saved it with his legs.

Penalty corner for Germany.

Germany strikes! In the first minute. It moves the ball like lightening. Kaufmann leads the counter attack. The ball crosses the entire length of the field with slick pass-and-move and Hellwig finishes in the circle with a sliding effort.

Back for the second half. The third quarter starts. Sreejesh goes off and Pawan is back for India.

Hockey! At its best! That’s it! The second quarter was hockey at its best. India trailed by a goal at the start of the quarter but scored four times. Jugraj, followed by Abhishek, followed by Karthi and finally Harmanpreet. The four goals were scored in the space of just six minutes. Peillet pulled one back for Germay. Mind you this too was within the six-minute window when India scored. After a quite and composed first quarter, the game went into all-out attack mode in the second. Nicely set up for the second half.

India with a last ditch effort to find another goal but the hooter blows to stop the game for half-time.

Sreejesh saves! He flicks the ball away from goal. Germany was mounting an attack from the right side. Hinrichs plays the pass across which Sreejesh handles with all his experience.

Stadler saves! Something goes the German keeper’s way. Abhishek fires in a shot from the right side of the circle and Stadler blocks it with his leg.

Another goal! Can you believe that? Harmanpreet with his 11th goal in the FIH Pro League. He angles the ball into the right side of goal. Stadler had no chance there.

India makes an error in trapping the injection but Harmanpreet keeps his cool to win another corner.

A penalty corner for India. Hannes Muller is penalised for not giving Sumit five yards of distance to collect a aerial scoop.

Selvam Karthi! It is goals gallore in Rourkela. He finds a tap in. Gurjant with world class skill on the left side of the German circle. He then fires the ball into the goal and Karthi just changes the direction of the ball with a gentle tap. India leads again.

This time the German scores! He keeps the drag flick low and the ball keeps going away from Sreejesh. The Indian keeper extends his foot but the ball is too wide.

Manpreet blocks the corner attempt from Peillet but it will be a retake.

Germany wins a penalty corner. Kaufmann wins it for the side. The ball thuds on to Manpreet’s foot as he and Jugraj have a mix up.

India is ahead! Unbelievable! India defends an attack with Sreejesh making a save. India then plays an aerial scoop which the German defence fails to clear. Abhishek pounces on it, enters the circle and fires the tomahawk past the German keeper.

India is back level. Jugraj’s power beats the German keeper Stadler. It is fired straight down the middle and the ball creeps in between Stadler’s feet.

India gets a penalty corner! The crowd likes that. Ludwig is the German player who gets the ball on their foot.

Zwicker with a precise tackle on Abhishek. He thwarts the attack as the Indian forward was charging into the German circle from the left side.

India nearly scores. Sumit receives a scoop in the circle. He takes it done with immaculate control and squares it. Two Indian players are in front of the goal but neither can tap it in.

Manpreet back on the field. A relief for India.

SAVED! Sreejesh is called into action as he saves a shot from close range by Kaufmann. There could have been trouble had Sreejesh sat on the ball but he gets up quickly to avoid that situation.

More of the same in the second quarter. India trying to find spaces through its feeder Dilpreet. But Germany sitting back and not allowing any space.

Sreejesh has replaced Pawan in goal as the second quarter resumes.

That’s the conclusion of the first period. A slam-bang start for Germany. It scored early via Tom Grambusch. India has gone direct in attack but failed to convert the tap-in chances. Germany has been sitting back since the goal and seems happy to defend.

Peilliet mishits an aerial scoop and it is nearly collected by the Indian midfield. Kaufmann with damage control on the occasion allows Germany to retain the ball.

Rabichandra loses the ball right on the edge of the circle and Germany clears out the ball.

A turnover by India. Dilpreet wins the ball high up the German half.

Again a slap shot played into the circle which Sukhjeet fails to meet.

Manpreet goes off the field for the moment as play resumes. Hinrichs has been given a green card and Germany will be down to 10 men for the next two minutes.

Manpreet takes an awkward fall. He skips past Hinrichs but collides with the German in process. The play is stopped to attend to the former Indian captain.

Germany finally deploys a high press and forces a mistake out of Sumit. He puts his pass out of play. Germany wins the possession.

Harmanpreet is fouled as he tries to move the ball from the Indian circle. A free hit to India.

Karthi’s flick goes wide. Jarmanpreet hits the slap into the circle and Karthi meets it on the run. Not able to keep it down though as the ball flies over the goal.

India controlling the ball for the past couple of minutes. Germany happy to sit back for the moment.

Jarmanpreet with an entry into the circle. He is able to win a long corner for India.

Time for India to regroup and find a solution. It conceded first against Australia as well on Sunday.

Tom Grambusch scores for Germany. A whipped shot to the right side of the goal and Pawan had no chance there. Germany draws first blood.

Penalty corner for Germany! Its first circle entry and Harmanpreet Singh gets the ball on his foot. Chance for the visitor.

Another effort! The same pair links up for India. Gurjant comes in to the circle from the left and plays a reverse stick pass for Sukhjeet. The latter just has to tap but the ball is too fast and he misses.

India with its first attack. Gurjant slaps a shot into the circle from the right looking for Sukhjeet but the pass is intercepted.

The action starts with India taking the centre ball.

The players take the field and it is time for the national anthems. Germany’s Deutschlandlied followed by India’s Jana Gana Mana.

India’s David John: Scoring goals is important. We have been lucky to score here. Germany is a very proud nation. They will come out strong to make an impact. We’ll have to match their intensity.

Germany’s Andre Henning: Well we were happy with the results, both India and Australia. Against India we had a good performance. India had some good solutions against the press. We have changed the strategy a little and want to improve on our defence.

India’s key midfielder Hardik Singh will not be involved due to an illness.

India moved to the second place with its win against Australia on Monday. If it wins its third match today, it will go top of the FIH Pro League table. It will be level on points with Spain, but will lead the table by virtue of more goals scored.

India has won the last five matches against Germany. A nice winning run against the best side in the world. Will India continue it tonight or will Germany break the streak and get the victory?

The Indian captain led the side’s charge against Australia with a hat-trick. He scored one against Germany too. The drag-flicker is now the top scorer in the FIH Pro League with 10 goals.

After the set back against India, the World Champion bounced back with a 1-0 win against the mighty Kookaburras.

The side will surely look to build on that momentum and pull off the revenge on India.

India and Germany played a close match the last time they faced off in the FIH Pro League. India took a three goal lead, courtesy two strikes from Sukhjeet Singh and one from Harmanpreet Singh. Germany then came back to make a fight of the contest and scored two goals.

India ultimately held onto the narrow lead and emerged victorious.

India - 10 | Germany - 15 | Draw - 7

India pulled off a thrilling win against Australia on Sunday. A nine-goal thriller which could have gone either way. Here is the match report from Uthra Ganesan.

Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran, Pawan, Harmanpreet Singh (C), Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Manjeet, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh (V/C), Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Vishnukant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, S. Karthi, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek, Gurjant Singh

(7) ALEXANDER STADLER, (21) MICHEL STRUTHOFF, (2) MATHIAS MÜLLER, (3) MATS GRAMBUSCH (22) MARCO MILTKAU, (23) MARTIN ZWICKER, (5) LINUS MÜLLER, (24) ERIK KLEINLEIN, (25) HANNES MÜLLER, (11) CONSTANTIN STAIB, (13) PAUL-PHILIPP KAUFMANN, (29) MALTE HELLWIG, (14) TEO HINRICHS, (30) THIES PRINZ, (15) TOM GRAMBUSCH, (16) GONZALO PEILLAT, (38) ANTHEUS BARRY, (19) JUSTUS WEIGAND, (44) MORITZ LUDWIG, (20) NIKLAS BOSSERHOFF, (62) ELIAN MAZKOUR (74) JEAN-PAUL DANNEBERG

The match between India and Germany will start at 7:10 PM. The match will be telecasted live in India on Star Sports Select 2 and Star Sports Select 2 HD TV channels in India. While the livestream of the same will be available on Fancode.

India has gotten its rebuild, after the early World Cup debacle, off to a winning start.

It first defeated Germany 3-2 on Friday, before edging out Australia 5-4 in a nine-goal thriller on Sunday at the Birsa Munda International Stadium.

The side has been buoyed by Captain Harmanpreet Singh’s goal-scoring form. He has notched up four goals in the two matches, including a hat-trick against Australia on Sunday.

But the test is not yet over. India takes on Germany on Monday, just a day after the high-intensity match against the Kookaburras.

India’s interim coach David John had said that he wanted consistency from his team. The Men in Blue have a chance to achieve just that on Monday.