Breda: India lost its third match to defending champions Australia at Rabobank Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy 2018 in the Netherlands on Wednesday. The thrilling match ended with the scorecard reading 3-2.
The Indian hockey team was led by skipper PR Sreejesh, who put up a phenomenal performance.
FT| The Indian Men’s Team play out an entertaining encounter against the @Kookaburras for their third game of the Rabobank Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy 2018 on 27th June, as India slip to their first defeat of the tournament by a slim margin.#IndiaKaGame #INDvAUS #HCT2018 pic.twitter.com/XSKF7l8ozH
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 27, 2018
The ‘Kookaburras’ scored two goals in the first quarter. While the first one was by Lachlan Sharp, in the 6th minute, the second was scored by Tom Craig in the 15th.
After Aussie’s first goal, Varun Kumar equalized for India in the first quarter. After a goalless second quarter, Trent Mitton of Australia scored in the third. India moved with no goals. However, the quarter saw many penalties for the teams.
Harmanpreet hit an enthralling goal in the fourth quarter, in the last 10 minutes, to lessen the gap.
However, Kookaburras successfully defended the remaining attempts of India to find the nets, winning the match.
India has played against Australia, 15 times in the past.
After today’s match, India fell to 3rd position in the list. The next face-off is with Belgium on Thursday.