Certainly, this isn’t the very best Indian Army staff that one has witnessed within the MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup invitation hockey event.
Its forwards haven’t stepped up to an excellent extent, although the defence has been saving grace. To be truthful, it has performed properly inside its limitations.
Requiring a victory to keep alive within the competitors, Army huffed and puffed to a 2-1 win over Maharashtra in a Pool-A contest on the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium right here on Wednesday.
Army will make it to the playoffs supplied SAI-NCOE (Bhopal) loses or attracts with defending champion and table-topper Indian Railways on Thursday. NCOE will enter the semifinals rather than Army if the previous defeats Railways. Meanwhile, host Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu has been knocked out.
Later, in a Pool-B tie, Indian Navy impressed with a 4-1 victory over Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), thanks to a brace every by Selvaraj and Ajinkya Jadhav.
Navy, which has entered the final 4 with three straight wins, will tackle former champion IOC in its final group match to determine the group topper.
After a colorless goalless first quarter, Maharashtra opened the scoring within the second by means of a penalty nook strike by Ganesh Patil.
Within couple of minutes, Army equalised by means of a powerful counter-attack from the left flank. A swipe by Mohd. Alishan from the backline discovered Pradeep Singh Bisht, who deftly deflected it dwelling.
Maharashtra returned stronger within the third quarter with assaults that rattled the Army defence. First, Arjun Hargude’s strike from the highest of the circle noticed Army ’keeper Senthamizh Arasu give you a positive save. A couple of minutes later, a withering backhander by Taleb Shah missed the publish by a whisker.
With seven minutes remaining for the hooter, Army discovered the winner when Niraj Kumar Singh took a bit time earlier than unleashing a reverse hit after receiving a go from Rajant Singh.
The outcomes: Pool-A: Indian Army 2 (Pradeep Singh Bisht 29, Niraj Kumar Singh 53) bt Maharashtra 1 (Ganesh Patil 21).
B: Indian Navy 4 (Ajinkya Jadhav 17 & 35, Ok. Selvaraj 33 & 36) bt CBDT 1 (Mehkeet Singh 33).
Malaysian National junior staff 3 (Azimuddin Shakir 29, Muhd. Handzalah 47, Muhd. Adam Asyraf 59) drew with Karnataka 3 (N.M Surya 7, Bhrath Mahalingppa 18 & 32).
