Rupinder nets two, India crush Netherlands 5-2

New Delhi, January 18

The Indian men’s hockey team made a dream debut at the FIH Pro League, beating world No. 3 Netherlands 5-2 in their opening match of the two-game encounter.

Rupinder Pal Singh (12th, 46th) converted two penalty corners, while Gurjant Singh (1st), Mandeep Singh (34th) and Lalit Upadhyay (36th) scored three field goals for India.

Jip Janssen (14th) struck from a set-piece, while Jeroen Hertzberger (28th) scored from a field effort for the Dutch side.

Perfect start

The Indians made a perfect start and took the lead inside 30 seconds through Gurjant, who fired past Dutch goalkeper Pirmin Blaak after an exchange with fellow striker Mandeep Singh. India doubled their lead in the 12th minute when Rupinder Pal converted a penalty corner.

Two minutes later, the Netherlands pulled one back through Janssen’s brilliant penalty corner conversion, which rattled the bottom left-corner of the Indian goal.

In the 20th minute, the Netherlands secured three consecutive penalty corners but the Indian defence stood tall to keep the Europeans at bay.

Janssen was twice denied by brilliant blocks from the onrushing Amit Rohidas, with India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh blocking the third effort, a dragflick from Mink van der Weerden. A diving Sreejesh came up with another brilliant save to deny Bjorn Kellerman.

But two minutes from the end of second quarter, the Netherlands drew level through Hertzberger’s field strike, as both the teams went into half time 2-2.

Four minutes into the third quarter, Mandeep scored after receiving a pass from captain Manpreet Singh to restore the lead. Upadhyay extended the home team’s lead, tapping into an unguarded net after a brilliant play down the left by Harmanpreet Singh. A minute into the fourth quarter, India made it 5-2 when Rupinder netted his second goal of the game from another penalty corner. India will square off with the Netherlands in their second game on Sunday. — PTI