BENGALURU: There may be some immediate regrets, but on Monday morning after the night before, the Indian management will be really proud of the way they managed to compete against the reigning Olympic silver-medallists and Asian champions.
Salima Tete & Co gave it a very good go — just in the way they promised — and almost walked away with a very famous win against China. They twice led — 1-0 and then 2-1 — but their Asian neighbours equalised twice in their World Cup Pool D opener on Sunday in Amstelveen. China, heavily tipped to at least reach the semifinals, had a chance to win it at the death but settled for the share of the spoils.
For vast stretches in the first half, it seemed like the World No 9 were having one of their best days on the blue canvas, at least certainly since the time they had finished fourth at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.
They played with energy, attacking verve and full of belief. It's how they seized the momentum in the first quarter by scoring the opening goal, a fine finish from Navneet Kaur in the 8th minute after pressuring China in their own third. For a team supposedly reliant on penalty corners, this was exactly the kind of field goal they needed to score in their first match to send the belief soaring.
Turbocharged by that belief, they generated enough momentum to create other opportunities but let China off the hook with just seconds remaining for the hooter to signal the end of the first quarter. There was a push inside the striking circle, a Chinese body went flying and the decision of a penalty stroke was inevitable and Ying Zhang sounded the board,
Previous avatars of this Indian team, especially the ones over the last few years, may have lost momentum in the second stanza. However, on a pleasant European afternoon, this team regrouped fairly quickly and kept going forward. And the reward for that was a goal for Deepika Sehrawat via a deflection from a penalty corner. They could have doubled that advantage before half-time as China, the World No 4, were relieved to hear the signal for the break.
The views of both coaches couldn't have been more different. "I think we were very disciplined," coach Sjoerd Marijne told the broadcasters. "We are creating opportunities, the thing with these kinds of matches is converting them to goals. That's the next step for us, but we need to stay disciplined."
Meanwhile, Alyson Annan wanted to see her wards play with more energy. "Play with confidence and our speed of play," she said. "That was lacking. We can do better because we have played better before. I don't think we have played to the ability we can."
That was the message she had passed on to her players and that message was received. After attacking for a long time, India were suddenly on the back foot. They were repelling attacks every other minute as China were making repeated inroads into the opponent's third.
That pressure eventually told as Ning Ma levelled from a deadball situation. From then on, India buckled down, content to hold on to a famous point. It almost came up a cropper as they retreated so far into their own half that China had two more penalty corner chances but they spurned both.
“We tried our best and played really good," Navneet said after the game. "It’s a lesson for us that we need to keep the lead when we score first.
“I think we put more pressure on them in the first quarter. Then they did it to us, but we recovered in the fourth quarter. It's better than losing.”
After a day's break, they face South Africa, who were thumped 0-4 by England in the day's earlier fixture in this pool.
Result: India 2 (Navneet Kaur, Deepika Sehrawat) drew with China 2 (Ying Zhang, Ning Ma).