BHUBANESWAR: Fortune favours the brave! A goal down, India fought back to get the better of defending champions Australia 3-1 in the penalty shootout, after the FIH Pro League match ended 2-2 in regulation time at Kalinga Stadium on Saturday. Australia had won the first match 4-3 on Friday. Australia missed several opportunities, despite forcing nine penalty corners. None of those were converted. They also missed two penalty strokes, one in the third quarter and another in the shootout. Also, two of their goals were disallowed after video referrals.
India, the World No 4, played an aggressive brand of hockey and converted two of their three penalty corners. In the shootout, Harmanpreet Singh, Vivek Prasad and Lalit Upadhyay scored, while Daniel Beale got the lone goal for the visitors. An eventful first quarter came to an end with the score reading 0-0. Both teams were attacking to get an early lead. World No 2 Australia got a penalty corner in the 30th second, but experienced PR Sreejesh made a brilliant save.
Australian got three more penalty corners in the first quarter, but Sreejesh stood rock solid. Lachlan Sharp converted from the second chance after the third penalty corner, but Sreejesh reviewed for obstruction from Daniel Beale and the third umpire scrapped the goal. Australia got the lead in the 23rd minute through a field goal by Trent Mitton, who hit home a powerful strike. Two goals from two penalty corners put the hosts in the lead. The first was scored by drag-flicker Rupinderpal Singh in the 25th minute and the other was converted by Harmanpreet Singh in the 27th minute.
At halftime, the score read 2-1 in favour of India. In the third quarter, the visitors got two more penalty corners, but failed to level the score. Australian thought they had got the equaliser from their second penalty corner of the third quarter, but the goal was disallowed after a referral by the Indian team. Australia had a golden chance to equalise when they won a penalty stroke in the 33rd minute.
Tim Brand sent Sreejesh the wrong way, but crashed his spot flick on to the post. Australian skipper Aran Zalewski set an example for his team by scoring the equaliser in the 46th minute. The move was initiated by Craig Whetton from the middle of the turf. His powerful strike found an unmarked Aran, who deflected the ball into the net.