NEW DELHI: In a heart-wrenching turn of events, the Indian men's team endured a 0-3 defeat in the shootout against arch-rivals Australia in their
FIH Pro League
match in Rourkela on Saturday.
Australia, in addition to the win, secured a bonus point.
India seemed poised to upset the formidable Australian team and halt their unbeaten streak in the Odisha leg until Craig Tom's goal in the fourth and final quarter forced the match into a shootout.
Captain
Harmanpreet Singh
(20th minute) and
Amit Rohidas
(29th minute) netted goals for the home team, while
Blake Govers
and
Tom Craig
(53rd minute) scored for the visiting Australian team during the regular playing time.
In the shootout, Tim Brand, Ogilvie and Tom Wickham scored for Australia, but Akashdeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay missed their attempts for India.
In search of an equaliser after trailing 1-2, Australia launched into a wave of attacks, but the Indian defence was equal to the task, with veteran goalkeeper S Sreejesh pulling off a brilliant save with just a few minutes left for the final hooter.
However, Tom found Australia's much-needed equaliser with a field goal to send the match into the shootout, where India came a cropper.
The Indians had squandered a two-goal lead to lose 4-6 to the Kookaburras earlier this month in Bhubaneswar.
(With inputs from PTI)
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