BENGALURU: There's a whole host of sporting activities to pick from on Monday. The third day of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Galle is one. If you are tickled by badminton, there's the opening day of the World Championships in New Delhi.
However, for sheer drama, there may not be a better encounter to follow than the Pool D clash between India and England at the hockey World Cup. Sure, it may not even be the best match on Monday (that honour likely goes to Belgium and Germany, winners of the two previous World Cups). But, over the last few years, an India v. England/GB hockey match has regularly provided enough electricity to power entire cities.
In terms of strength, depth, style of play (especially in their counters) and threat from penalty corners, these two sides are evenly matched. There's also sufficient needle whenever they come up against each other. At the 2024 Olympics, for example, India had a man sent off for a raised stick before they used that decision as motivation to beat their opponents in a shoot-out in the quarterfinals.
The sending off had left a bitter aftertaste in Indian minds. From an England perspective, they felt they should have beaten India. Even in a fast-paced sport like hockey, games between these two sides have resembled basketball matches.
Attacks, counter-attacks, flowing moves, contentious decisions, bookings and a lot of goals. Since the beginning of the last World Cup, there have been 37 goals scored in 10 matches (only FIH events). If you want to expand the time period to include 2022 as well, there was one mad 4-3 game in the Pro League as well as an insane 4-4 draw at the Commonwealth Games.
In fact, the England hockey team, when they came to India in the last edition of the World Cup, made a huge song and dance about wanting to showcase a Bazball-like style in hockey as well. “We have gone down the ‘Bazball’ mentality, really," their forward Sam Ward had said in the days leading to the World Cup. "It’s great our coaches are really encouraging that... removing the fear of failure, just like Ben (Stokes) and Brendon (McCullum) have done. We feel the same as Stokes has done about cricket." That match finished 0-0, one of only two goalless draws between the two teams in the last four years. The odds of an identical score on Monday? Fairly low as both sides play with energy with a lot of front-footed players eager to bomb forward at every available opportunity. However, both teams will have to consider the risk-reward at hand. Be conservative, get a point and this Pool comes to a one-game shootout because of the presence two clearly inferior teams (Pakistan and Wales). Both India and England had no problems in despatching Wales and Pakistan and they will back themselves to win their third league match as well. The reward, though, for winning that match on Monday cannot be overstated. If India were to beat England, they would, in all likelihood, carry those points into the next phase of the tournament. Coach Craig Fulton addressed it during an interview with this daily before the tournament. “It’s quite a long tournament,” he had said. “Finishing top in the pool, that’s priority No. 1. Because then, there’s a chance of taking the points of the team that qualifies with you.” Either finish your work early or move it to Tuesday, because you wouldn’t want to miss it.
Monday's matches:
Men
Pool D: Pakistan vs Wales, India vs England (6.30PM IST)
Pool B: France vs Malaysia, Germany vs Belgium
Women
Pool A: Chile vs Japan, Australia vs Netherlands
Pool B: US vs Scotland, Germany vs Argentina
Matches from 1.00 PM IST;
Live on Star Sports Network and JioHotstar
