India take on Netherlands in the opening match of the IPL (Photo: IANS)
On the day when Manpreet Singh equaled Dilip Tirkey’s long-standing record of 412 caps – the most caps by an Indian player – the Indian men’s hockey team failed to rise to the occasion and began their European FIH Pro League campaign with a defeat.Despite a significant improvement on their performances in the opening eight matches earlier this year, Craig Fulton’s men lost 3-2 to the Netherlands in Rotterdam on Sunday.For India, Dilpreet Singh and Sukhjit Singh scored, while Miles Bukins, Koen Bijgin and Tim Rienga found the back of the net for the Dutch. However, the difference could have been greater had it not been for Suraj Karkera, who impressed in goal during the first half, ensuring that the Netherlands failed to convert any of the first ten penalty kicks.His performance even earned praise from former India goalkeeper and two-time Olympic bronze medalist BR Sreejesh on the X. However, reducing the number of penalties conceded will be an area India needs to address before their next match.
“We definitely need to improve our ball-handling skills,” Fulton said at halftime. “We gave away a lot of corner penalties, but at the same time, we did a good job defending them.”“On the counter, like I said, I wanted to see us try to shoot – and there were some good moments, including a few individual moments.
We just need to be better when we have the ball in our own half and do a better job there.”Earlier, the Netherlands took the lead in the third minute through Bukins, but India equalized in the tenth minute when Dilpreet’s shot was hit by a Dutch defender. Beijing restored the lead to the hosts eight minutes after the start of the second quarter.India equalized again three minutes into the second half after Hardik Singh was awarded the first penalty kick. Harmanpreet Singh picked the substitute, passing to Hardik, who set up Sukhjeet for a simple finish. But the Dutch were not satisfied with the draw and eventually executed a penalty kick in the 40th minute after failing to score in the first ten attempts. India did their best in the final minutes and pulled their goalkeeper, but the Dutch held on, preventing India from taking late penalties and securing the win.Captain Harmanpreet, despite creating chances and being involved in India’s goals, was not too disappointed by the defeat.He said after the match: “The result was not good, but it was our first match after a long time, and it is always exciting to play against a strong team.”India will now have a two-day break before facing Germany in back-to-back matches on Wednesday and Thursday.