KUWAIT: India succumbed to their second consecutive defeat at the AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers, going down to Australia 1-4 at the Ali Sabah Al-Salem Stadium here.
Skipper Gurkirat Singh scored the lone goal for India while Garng Koul, Adrian Segecic and Max Caputo registered their names on the scoresheet for Australia.
Bikash Yumnam added to India's woes as he scored his own goal. India was beaten 2-4 in their opener by Iraq last week.
Trailing by two first-half goals, India displayed lots of spirit in the second and pulled one back through Gurkirat, whose sudden long ranger in the 63rd minute caught the Australia goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky on the wrong foot before hitting the post and going in.
It wasn't the only time when India had the Australian defence in trouble.
In fact, on more than one occasion the Indians came close to bringing down the rival goal, but poor marksmanship and bad luck denied India at least a couple of goals that could have made the story of the day a little different.
After reducing the margin through Gurkirat, India had a golden chance to restore parity in the 76th minute.
The Indian captain was once again in the thick of things as he rounded off the advancing Aussie goalkeeper to send the ball across an empty goal. Taison ran in from the other side to flick it, but it was blocked off the line at the nick of time.
The post denied India another golden opportunity early in the second half when Himanshu Jangra cut inside in great style only to find his shot coming back after hitting the nearest upright on the left side.
In the first half, Australia took the lead in the 12th minute when Garang received the ball just inside the Indian box and smashed it in after going past defender Amandeep.
The Indians faltered in the midfield as Alex Bandolato was allowed to take the ball in the middle without a proper challenge and he made the most of it by sending a perfect through to the right.
In the 32nd minute, Joseph Forde sent a cross from the right and defender Bikash, while trying to clear the ball, came up with a header that landed inside the Indian net.
India conceded two more goals in the last five minutes of the match when they were trying to throw in everything into the attack.
But in the 86th minute, Segecic struck spectacularly from a volley that beat Indian custodian Syed Zahid Bukhari. The final nail was driven in by Max Caputo during injury time.