That’s it from us tonight! Do join us on Saturday when India take on the Netherlands hoping to avenge their defeat from Wednesday.

Summary:

After a disappointing outing against hosts Netherlands last evening, India bounced back with a convincing 3-0 win against Argentina here in the ongoing FIH Hockey Pro League 2022-23 on Thursday in Eindhoven. It was India Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (33’), Amit Rohidas (39’) and Abhishek (59’) who scored in India’s win while goalkeepers PR Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak took turns to keep a clean slate. 

FT, India 3-0 Argentina, Harmanpreet Singh: The first two quarters were tough. Defensively we were good but we managed to create chances and score. Our focus is to keep the ball and to make them run. And once we get a good opportunity, we go for it.

FT, India 3-0 Argentina: A good victory for India after the 1-4 loss to the Netherlands last night. Argentina made it difficult for them with their defensive set up. After a slow first half, India shifted gears in the second to notch a good 3-0 win.

Q4, India 3-0 Argentina: Abhishek scores! A third goal for India as they spring the counter and it is 2v1 as Vivek Sagar Prasad and Abhishek bear down on the Argentinian goal. Santiago comes out, VSP squares it to Abhishek who puts it into the empty goal.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: 100 seconds left and Karthi picks up a green card.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: Rohidas intercepts a pass into the circle and flicks it outside. Argentina review it for dangerous play. The TV umpire rules that Rohidas’s clearance was not close to any Argentinian player.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: Pathak with another stunning save! Lucas Toscani lets one fly from close range and Pathak instinctively puts his stick out to punch it away. The goal would not have counted as Toscani played the ball off his foot and the umpire had blown the whistle for an Indian free out.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: A second PC of the match for Argentina as Manpreet commits a bad foul. Nicolas Della Torre drags his flick wide looking to get a deflection.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: Jarmanpreet Singh picks up a green card for persistent stick tackles. 11v10 now

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: End to end now. Argentina have India back in their own half. But a beautiful pass from Manpreet from the deep sends Abhishek free in the circle. Santiago comes out to close down the angle. Abhishek looks for support and plays the ball towards Sukhjeet. Federico Monja puts out his stick just in time to intercept the pass. Argentina escape.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: An error from India and Argentina get on the attack. Brilliant tackle from Harmanpreet and he springs the counter. It’s 2v3 and he plays it to Abhishek. The India is marshalled by two backtracking Argentinians and under pressure, sends his shot high and wide.

Q4, India 2-0 Argentina: ‘Push, push’ yells Fulton telling his players to not take their foot of the gas. Argentina, strangely, not pressing harder.

End of Q3, India 2-0 Argentina: A much improved performance from India in that quarter. Pinned Argentina in their own half and got two goals off brilliant PCs from Harmanpreet Singh and Amit Rohidas

Q3, India 2-0 Argentina: Argentina were happy to sit back but now need to chase the game. India, however, have them pinned well inside their own half. Mandeep twice comes close to scoring his 100th international goal but Santiago does well to position himself and make the saves.

Q3, India 2-0 Argentina: Amit Rohidas scores! A thing of beauty that from Rohidas. The ball wasn’t trapped perfectly but Rohidas brought it under control and flicks it with tremendous power into the top of the goal. Santiago did not see that coming. Superb goal that.

Q3, India 1-0 Argentina: India finding a lot of freedom to attack on the right and they win another PC. Harmanpreet is not on the field though.

Q3, India 1-0 Argentina: Harmanpreet Singh scores! No mistake from the Indian captain. Rifles the ball into the bottom corner. Santiago had no time to react. Harmanpreet, soon to be a father, rocks his stick to celebrate it.

Q3, India 0-0 Argentina: Even as Craig Fulton fumes on the sideline, India win a PC. First for them today.

Q3, India 0-0 Argentina: Abhishek gets the ball just inside the circle but his first touch is a bit heavy. That gives Matias Rey the chance to try and win the ball. Abhishek shields it and Rey nudges him in the back. India review. The TV umpire advices that a PC should be given. However, the on-field umpires Ben Goentgen and Hannah Harrsion chat after seeing the replay on the big screen. They don’t believe the push was hard enough to merit a PC and overrule the TV umpire. To add insult to injury, India lose their referral despite the TV umpire agreeing with them. Highly unusual.

Q3, India 0-0 Argentina: Sreejesh back in goal now. India get us started.

HT, India 0-0 Argentina, Craig Fulton: Tough first half. Trying to get some attacking moves going. Difficult when they make the field so big. No PCs, no big chances. Hoping to change that in the second half.

HT, India 0-0 Argentina: You could say hockey was played in that half. Both teams defending deep. Argentina more so than India. That’s about it, to be honest. Hopefully, we get to see attacking hockey in the next half.

Q2, India 0-0 Argentina: India win possession in the Argentinian third and attack. Gurjant gets the ball bang on the edge of the circle. He wins up to shoot but ends up missing the ball and hitting the turf. The stick bounces up high with Argentina asking for a free out. Play allowed to continue though and Hardik finds space to shoot but sends it wide.

Q2, India 0-0 Argentina: Pathak with a stunner! India lose possession near the Argentina 23m line. Los Leonnes break and Ferreiro finds himself 1v1 vs Pathak. He looks to reverse scoop it but Pathak throws his body at it. Superb keeping from Pathak!

Q2, India 0-0 Argentina: Ohh Karthi comes close. Good work from Jarmanpreet from the right. He plays it to the goalmouth where Karthi, under pressure from two Argentinians, sends his first-time shot just wide.

Q2, India 0-0 Argentina: Lovely one-touch move from Jarmanpreet and Simranjeet but the former sees the ball stolen from him.

Q2, India 0-0 Argentina: India attack from the right. The ball comes to Karthi whose snapshot is straight at Santiago.

Q2, India 0-0 Argentina: Sreejesh out and Pathak in goal for the second quarter.

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: With less than 10 seconds left, India spring the counter with Hardik bringing out the ball and feeding it to Simranjeet. As the crowd counts down the time, Simranjeet beats a defender before losing out to another. End of Q1.

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: It has been a bit cagey so far. Both teams defending deep and swapping extended periods of possession.

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: Ferreiro nicely juggling and bouncing the ball on his stick with Hardik keeping close watch. Fancy moves but ultimately doesn’t lead to anything. A minute later, Los Leones attack from the left. Sreejesh comes out to close down the angle and he makes a good save with his glove to put the ball past the post.

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: From one end to the other. Argentina unable to execute their PC routine well as India break. Abhishek gets the ball on the right in the circle and he lets fly from a good position. The ball cannons off the post with Santiago beaten!

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: Martin Ferreiro with some delightful driblling and he gets stick-tackled a fair few times. PC to Argentina.

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: Mandeep with the 3D skills on the goalline as he runs at goal. Santiago puts the ball behind but not before Mandeep himself has put the ball behind.

Q1, India 0-0 Argentina: And off we go! India with possession in the opening 90 seconds. Argentina don’t let them create any chances.

India vs Argentina: Simranjeet Singh makes his return after a lengthy injury lay off. No Lalit, Sukhjeet and Akashdeep as Selvam Karthi comes back

India vs Argentina, Craig Fulton: Argentina come out in their deep blue jerseys which means India will be in their away white and orange jerseys.

India vs Argentina, Craig Fulton: Behind the results, a lot was going on. We tried many things, some worked and some didn’t. Ready to go again. Argentina are really nice tactical opposition but it is about what we do today.

Hello and welcome to Scroll’s live coverage of India’s match against Argentina, in the 2022-’23 FIH Men’s Pro League in Eindhoven.

India began their final mini-tournament of the 2022-23 FIH Pro League with a dismal showing on Wednesday losing 1-4 to a relatively inexperienced Netherlands side boasting eight debutants. In their next assignment, India take on Argentina hoping to bounce back quickly.

Indian men’s squad:

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh (C), Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay, Mandeep Mor, Gurinder Singh

Midfielders: Hardik Singh (VC), Dilpreet Singh, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad

Forwards: Abhishek, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, S Karthi, Gurjant Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Mandeep Singh, Simranjeet Singh

India’s FIH Pro League matches in Europe

India 1-2 Belgium, 26 May

India 2-4 Great Britain, 27 May

India 5-1 Belgium, 2 June

India 4 (4)-(2) 4 Great Britain, 3 June

India 1-4 Netherlands, 7 June

India vs Argentina, 8 June, 2030 hrs IST

India vs Netherlands, 10 June, 2100 hrs IST

India vs Argentina, 11 June, 2100 hrs IST 

Screenshots in the blog courtesy: FIH Media / Fancode

Match live: Star Sports First, Star Sports 2 SD/HD and Fancode in India