Indian women came back strong after conceding a goal in the very first minute to upset world number 2 England 2-1 in the 2018 Commonwealth Games to go on top of Pool A after three matches.
The Rani Rampal-led side, who began their campaign with a surprise 3-2 loss against Wales, underlined their credentials as contenders for a podium finish in Gold Coast with a strong fightback against a side that boasted of many members of Great Britain’s Rio Olympic gold medal-winning squad.
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Navneet Kaur found the equaliser in the 42nd minute by sending the ball between the legs of England goalkeeper Madeleine Hinch and then Gurjit Kaur converted a penalty stroke six minutes later to cancel out English skipper Alexandra Danson’s first minute strike.
England were clearly the dominant side in the first half, opening the scoring in the very first minute.
The team that boasts of many players who bagged the Rio Olympics gold for Great Britain, England moved in from the left and Danson made no mistake in deflecting the ball home. She could have doubled the lead two minutes later with another move from the left but this time Indian goalkeeper Savita was alert to the danger.
India could manage its first meaningful attack on English goal only in the fifth minute but Lalremsiami’s shot was easily parried away and the Rani Rampal side could not do much with the penalty corner in the eighth minute with drag flicker Gurjit Singh off the field.
England had a clear game plan of maintaining possession and not giving India space in the midfield and it clearly worked as the Indians could manage just two shot on goal through-out the first half.
Savita stands tall
In contrast, England troubled Savita on more than half a dozen occasions but the 27-year-old goalkeeper was alert to the occasion and ensured that India did not fall further behind in the first 30 minutes.
She stood tall, reducing the angle, to block the hits from the English strikers and then kept Giselle Ansley’s low penalty corner out with a diving save at the start of the second quarter. Savita then kept out a Hanna Martin shot soon after to frustrate the opposition.
India were also slightly lucky not to fall behind just before the half-time hooter when Grace Balsdon’s drag flick in the 29th minute hit the cross bar.
But it was a completely different Indian team in the second half and proved why coach Harendra Singh has so much confidence in their abilities to go all the way in the tournament.
India kept things tight in the midfield and did not allow the English women to maintain a high tempo. The Indian midfield was also quick to react to situation and it was one such quickly taken free hit that opened the gates for an equaliser.
While the English women were just tracking back, the ball was quickly pushed forward to Vandana Kataria, who turned to find Navneet in the striking circle and she made no mistake in slotting the ball home from between Hinch’s legs.
India maintained the pressure on the English goal and were duly rewarded when Anna Toman stick checked Rani Rampal while she had a clear shot at goal and the umpire had no hesitation in awarding a penalty stroke which was converted by a calm and composed Gurjit.
England came back hard after the second goal and India were lucky when Martin’s deflection hit the post within a minute of that goal.
That was probably the best chance for England to find an equaliser and India then saw off the remaining period rather easily to kick off celebrations on the bench.
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