JALANDHAR: Striker Abhishek Nain scored a brace as five-time champions India beat Japan 4-1 to continue their winning juggernaut and register their third consecutive win at the men's Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Friday. India had earlier thrashed Bangladesh 13-0 before getting the better of China 5-2 in their first two matches, while Japan beat South Korea and Bangladesh 3-2 and 1-0 respectively. Abhishek (11th, 51st minutes) scored two field goals, while skipper Harmanpreet Singh (47th) sounded the board from India's only penalty corner of the match. Vishnukant Singh (56th) also found the net with a field goal. Shota Yamada (15th) scored the lone goal for Japan from a penalty stroke.
Asian Games champions India will next play Malaysia, whom they defeated 5-1 in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games recently, on Sunday, while Japan will face China.
The Indians were slow to get off the blocks as Japan enjoyed possession early on and secured a penalty corner in the second minute, but Ken Nagayoshi's try from a variation went wide of the target. The lack of coordination between the Indian midfield and forward line was quite evident, with vice-captain Hardik Singh doing the bulk of the work without much support from others. With Mandeep Singh missing the game, the Indian forward line looked clueless and out of ideas as the hosts failed to create enough goal-scoring chances. With time, the Indians got their footing in the match and took the lead in the 11th minute with a nicely built-up field goal.
Hardik did all the link-up play to find Sukhjeet Singh inside the circle near the left corner, and he passed the ball to Abhishek, who was playing his 150th international match, to simply guide it home and hand India the early lead. Japan soon earned their second penalty corner but shot wide. The Japanese secured two more penalty corners in succession just nine seconds before the end of the first quarter, and the effort from the second set piece resulted in a penalty stroke after the ball hit Sanjay's body.
Shota Yamada made no mistake in beating Suraj Karkera in the Indian goal to level the scores. The Japanese looked determined and defended in numbers to deny India any easy chances. The man-to-man marking by the Japanese was spot on as they denied the Indian attackers any space inside their own circle, with both teams going into the halfway break locked at 1-1. Such was the compactness of Japan's defence that India failed to secure a single penalty corner in the first half. Three minutes after the change of ends, Hardik created a great opportunity for Sukhjeet, but the striker's shot from inside the circle went over the goal.
Japan continued their fine display and secured their fourth penalty corner in the 36th minute, but skipper Raiki Fujishima's flick went way over the post. Minutes later, Shilanand Lakra's reverse hit from Amit Rohidas' defence-splitting pass was padded away by Japanese goalkeeper Takumi Kitagawa. With the teams locked at 1-1 after three quarters, India stepped on the gas in the fourth and final quarter, earning their first penalty corner of the match in the 46th minute. Skipper Harmanpreet was bang on target with a powerful low flick to hand the hosts a 2-1 lead and some breathing space. The Indians looked a completely different side in the final quarter as the forwards stepped up to put constant pressure on the Japanese goal. Abhishek scored his second goal of the day from field play after a fine build-up in the 51st minute to hand India a 3-1 lead. Vishnukant extended India's lead with a fine field effort after receiving an inch-perfect aerial ball from skipper Harmanpreet four minutes from the final hooter.