Harmanpreet the ‘sitara’ as India survive China scare, Rajgir humidity to begin Asia Cup on winning note

The Rajgir humidity soaked every ounce of the players’ energy on Friday, but India had a bit more in the reserves than China in a match that had a roller-coaster feeling to it, until captain Harmanpreet Singh’s hat-trick goal sealed it at 4-3. Soon after, the DJ turned up the volume for the local hit Hind ke Sitara, and the school kids in the stands danced in the aisles.

It was a symbolic song as well, as Harmanpreet turned out to be the sitara (star) around whom India pivoted as the Chinese challenge turned out to be stiffer than expected for the length of the game.

Barring the opening match of the day, which was played under overcast skies, the humidity rose for the remaining three games, cooking the players on the pitch.

But credit to the Indian and Chinese players, who had their match scheduled when the heat peaked at 3 pm. The relentless and attacking nature of the game can be gauged from the fact that all seven goals came off penalty corners (PC). The game saw 17 PCs in total – 11 for India and 6 for China. The pace of the game also spoke volumes about the fitness levels of the two teams.

Analysing China’s performance from the perspective of improvement since the Asian Champions Trophy final last year, where they tested India before losing 1-0, their progress didn’t go unnoticed.

India’s goalkeeping has been under the scanner since the retirement of PR Sreejesh. On that count, Krishan Pathak was found vaunting as all three goals scored by China came when he was on the pitch, while Suraj Karkera kept a clean sheet during his duty minutes.

The win gave India full points but they remained second in Pool A on goal difference, behind Japan who beat Kazakhstan 7-0. In the two Pool B fixtures on the day, Malaysia defeated Bangladesh 4-1, South Korea beat Chinese Taipei 7-0.

The game ebbed and flowed

India looked to have taken lead as early as the third minute on a penalty-corner set-piece through Mandeep Singh, but China’s successful review saw the video umpire spotting a push by Raj Kumar Pal, resulting in the goal getting disallowed.

China banked on turnovers, which resulted in a penalty corner in the 12th minute, converted by Shihao Du. It silenced the crowd and the cheers dipped further when Harmanpreet missed the mark on India’s second PC just before the quarter-break.

China, who have assembled a battery of coaches under their Australian head coach Anthony Farry, seemed to be reaping benefits of investing time and money. Just like they did with their women’s team coach Alysson Annan, under whom the team won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.

Noted names like Dutchmen Michel van den Heuvel and former India coach Roelant Oltmans, Rifeng Su and Xianteng Liu are all assisting Farry.

China’s game had reflections of those expert inputs as they tested India’s defence in the first quarter. But it didn’t take long after the first break for India to equalise, from their second PC, when drag-flicker Jugraj Singh drew level to make it 1-1 in the 18th minute.

The crowd regained its voice and the DJ’s choice of songs improved as India found its mojo and took the lead in the 20th minute when Harmanpreet’s flick whistled into the left corner of the Chinese post.

A green card to India’s vice-captain Hardik Singh in the 23rd minute was the start of a bit of an unrest in the Indian dug-out that didn’t seem happy with some of the umpiring decisions in the match, especially ones that involved video replays to arrive at a decision.

Meanwhile, had Sukhjeet’s opportunistic strike off a soft error by the Chinese defence not been disallowed, India would have entered half-time break ahead 3-1, but it remained 2-1.

Harmanpreet hat-trick seals the deal

Harmanpreet had said at the pre-match press conference that they are aware of some of the master tacticians in the Chinese coaching staff and are ready to handle whatever they dish out on the pitch.

The captain decided to take things in his hands in the last 30 minutes, and made it 3-1 three minutes into the third quarter. But China cut down the lead back to one goal when Benhai Chen’s PC goal made it 3-2.

The visitors almost made it even-stevens, but for a disallowed goal, when the India captain asked for a video referral to spot the stick-check outside the striking circle. The review turned out to be successful.

Harmanpreet missed the first chance to complete his hat-trick when a penalty stroke awarded to India saw the skipper’s flick hitting the left post.

Thereafter, a 41st minute PC for China saw No. 3 Jiesheng Gao bringing the game to a knife’s edge at 3-3.

While the game opened up and swung like a pendulum, India had enough gas left in the tank to keep the pressure on China’s defence, which resulted in another penalty corner in the 47th minute. Harmanpreet stepped up once again to complete his hat-trick, which put the hosts ahead 4-3.

In between, midfielder Jarmanpreet Singh bore the brunt of a questionable umpiring decision, when he received a yellow card in the 53rd minute, reducing India to 10 men for the next five minutes. Jarmanpreet had also received a green card earlier in the 43rd minute.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a player told Firstpost that the umpiring standards “need to improve”.

But the team held firm even with a man down to ward off Chinese strikes, keeping their forays and attempts to create PCs at bay before the full-time hooter.

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