It was never supposed to be easy. And India’s opening game in the Hockey World Cup 2023 lived up to its billing, creating moments of exhilaration and despair in equal measure in front of the cheering 20,000-plus crowd at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela on Friday before prevailing 2-0 against Spain.
On paper, India is ranked higher. And for more than 45 minutes of the match, the host played like one. There was complete dominance, total possession, relentless attack and multiple circle penetrations to keep Spain on the backfoot. One of those saw India’s second penalty corner turning into goal with local boy Amit Rohidas slotting in a rebound after Harmanpreet Singh’s shot was saved in the 12th minute. Fourteen minutes later, Hardik Singh’s ball-grab from the half line and a solo run past four defenders all the way to the baseline ended in India’s second goal, deflected off Pau Cunill’s stick.
In between, Akashdeep Singh proved he still had the skills to steal balls with ease upfront and the Indian defence seemed unbreakable, hardly allowing Spain into the circle in the first 25 minutes. Goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak had a brilliant game and kept improving as the match progressed. It was towards the end of the 2nd quarter that the Spaniards began getting their act together to try and change the script. It almost worked in the second half.
They started closing down spaces, enforcing turnovers, breaking the field into small pockets – like during training – to control the game. India still held the upper hand with the forwards constantly earning penalty corners and nagging the opposition defence but Spain was managing to pry open an occasional gap.
Playing with 10 men for 10 of the last 12 minutes was the toughest period for India after Abhishek was sent off for an iffy tackle. Three back-to-back saves in open play and a penalty corner to boot proved Pathak’s growing confidence. It was not the most convincing of wins but against a slippery opponent like Spain, India’s performance was more than enough.
Earlier, England too made a winning start to its campaign with a comprehensive 5-0 win against neighbour Wales. England dominated all through and looked set to run riot when Nicholas Park struck in the very first minute but the Welsh threw everything in their defence while barely managing to enter England circle.
The results: Pool D: England 5 (Liam Ansell 2, Nicholas Park, Phil Roper, Nicholas Bandurak) bt Wales 0; India 2 (Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh) bt Spain 0.
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