Wrapping it up
HOOTER! Once again, a match just for some practice and records. India score their second biggest win of this tournament. Sri Lanka started well, even counter-attacking on a couple of occasions in the first quarter. Their goalkeeper Heneniya Mudiyanselage was solid in the first two quarters. And India were leading 7-0. But in the next two quarters, India were on a rampage. 13 goals in 30 minutes. And, with this resounding win, they finish off the group engagments.
GOAL! And, of course: India score their 20th goal. The second time they are scoring as many (or more) in this tournament. Mandeep’s the goal-scorer.
GOAL! Lalit Upadhyay scores another one within two minutes. Rupinder Pal Singh makes a a good free hit and all Lalit had to do was to guide the ball into the net.
GOAL! Lalit Upadhyay wins a battle against the goalkeeper and three Sri Lankan defenders to slot in the 18th goal for India.
Fourth quarter (5 minutes to go) India 17-0 Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankans are perhaps wishing for the final hooter to go. Indians are probably wanting to try to finish the match off with 20 goals. Five more minutes remain.
GOAL! India have taken off their goalie with seven minutes to go to extend their lead. Dilpreet Singh scores the 17th one for India.
GOAL! Penalty corner again for India. Rupinder Pal Singh scores again. His third goal of the match.
GOAL! Rupinder Pal Singh scores his second goal today (on his 200th match). He’s a big man. The drag-flick is lightning quick and unstoppable.
Fourth quarter (8 minutes to go) India 14-0 Sri Lanka: Penalty corner for India. The first of this quarter. Gets saved. But India get another one as the ball hits the defender.
Fourth quarter (10 minutes to go) India 14-0 Sri Lanka: A flock of yellow shirts near the Sri Lankan circle. The Indians haven’t been able to score one so far in the final quarter.
Fourth quarter (13 minutes to go) India 14-0 Sri Lanka: India scored a goal every two minutes in the last quarter. Things have been quiet so far in this one. All the Sri Lankan players have retreated to prevent more goals from India.
End of third quarter! Whew! What a quarter it was. Seven goals. Lot of teams don’t score as many in an entire match (even considering Sri Lanka is a lower ranked team). But the Sri Lankan defence looked jagged, flustered than they did in the first two quarters.
GOAL! Some good one-two play by Rupinder Pal Singh and Simranjeet Singh and the former gets the ball to Mandeep Singh, who dives, gets his stick in the front to slot in India’s 14th goal.
GOAL! Flurry of passes inside the Sri Lankan circle. And the ball, as it often has in this match, finds Akashdeep, who unleashes a drive to score his sixth goal of the match.
Third quarter (4 minutes to go) India 12-0 Sri Lanka: Another Penalty Corner for India. It’s their 14th. Saved.
GOAL! Fifth one in this quarter. Comes again off a Penalty Corner. Rupinder Pal Singh took the PC. But the ball was blocked by the keeper but can’t stop it from going to Amit Rohidas, who unleashes a drive into the net.
GOAL! Superb Penalty Corner goal. Harmanpreet hits the ball well wide of the net to the right side. Mandeep rushes in, dives and deflects the ball into the net. India lead 11-0.
Third quarter (9 minutes to go) India 10-0 Sri Lanka: India have scored 10 goals in 29 attempts so far. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, has zero attempts on goal. Oh wait, another PC for India.
GOAL! India’s scoring relentlessly now. They have converted almost all their opportunities that came their way in this quarter.
GOAL! Another one within two minutes. It’s a scramble near the Sri Lankan goalmouth. Akashdeep taps the ball between his legs and into the Sri Lankan net. Delightful.
GOAL! India score early in the third quarter. Stunning deflection by Vivek Sagar Prasad of a shot that came of Akashdeep Singh’s stick.
India’s top goal-scorers so far
End of second quarter, India 7-0 Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankans aren’t, or rather, haven’t been able to construct counterattacks. They are happy hitting the ball as hard as possible, clearing it away. They are under pressure.
Second quarter (2 minutes to go) India 7-0 Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka haven’t entered the Indian half for quite a while now. The Indians are dominating this one.
Second quarter (4 minutes to go) India 7-0 Sri Lanka: Surender Kumar gets a long, airborne pass. He traps and strikes the ball but the Sri Lankan keeper is up to the task. He saves it without much fuss.
Second quarter (6 minutes to go) India 7-0 Sri Lanka: Penalty corner again. This is getting too relentless for Sri Lanka. Amit Rohidas takes the PC. The Sri Lankan keeper saves it again. The scoreline could have been a lot worse if not for him.
GOAL! Akashdeep’s on fire. Finds an air-borne deflection, taps it down, decides to go for a tomahawk drive and executes it perfectly to score India’s seventh.
Second quarter (9 minutes to go) India 6-0 Sri Lanka: GOAL! Penalty corner. And, what a drag-flick by Harmanpreet Singh. The shot had a lot of pace and power. The Sri Lankan defender near the net seemed to have flinched.
Second quarter (10 minutes to go) India 5-0 Sri Lanka: Penalty corner for India again. Varun Kumar, this time, gets a chance. But his shot is padded away by the goalie.
GOAL! Akashdeep’s having a ball today. He’s at the right place at the right time. India make a flurry of passes inside the Sri Lankan circle and Akashdeep deflects a shot by Mandeep to slot it India’s fifth goal.
End of first quarter, India 4-0 Sri Lanka: India, once again, come close to scoring another goal. Vivek Sagar Prasad made a good effort but the Sri Lankan defence thwart the danger.
First quarter (1 minutes to go) India 4-0 Sri Lanka: Oh, miss. Could have been 5-0. But young Dilpreet is a tad slow to tap in the ball that rushed past him from the right flank.
First quarter (3 minutes to go) India 4-0 Sri Lanka: Penalty corner. India let Amit Rohidas take the Penalty Corner again. The Sri Lankan goalie does well to block another PC hit from India.
GOAL! Excellent one-two play in a crowded Sri Lankan circle by Akashdeep and Lalit Upadhyay. Akashdeep gets the final touch.
First quarter (5 minutes to go) India 3-0 Sri Lanka: Penalty Corner again. Hendeniya Mudiyanselage dives to stop the mighty flick of Rupinder Pal Singh.
GOAL! A bit of a scramble at the Sri Lankan goalmouth. The ball bounces and lands right in front of Akashdeep, who just taps it in to make it 3-0 for India.
First quarter (7 minutes to go) India 2-0 Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankans are doing what the other low-ranked teams failed to do against India: counter-attack when they have the opportunity to do so without going into a shell. But they lack the pace to possess any threat to the Indians.
First quarter (9 minutes to go) India 2-0 Sri Lanka: Penalty corner again. Amit Rohidas takes it this time. The Sri Lankan goalie Hendeniya Mudiyanselage saves it.
First quarter (9 minutes to go) India 2-0 Sri Lanka: GOAL! Penalty corner again for India. Their second one in less than 10 minutes. And, Harmanpreet converts it. India are off to a flier.
First quarter (11 minutes to go) India 1-0 Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankans are struggling to even get the ball from India. They are now contend to hang back and protect themselves of the relentless Indian onslaught.
GOAL! Rupinder Pal Singh scores off the penalty stroke. Early lead.
First quarter (13 minutes to go) India 0-0 Sri Lanka: India all over Sri Lanka in the first two minutes. They get their first Penalty Corner. Harmanpreet flicks it to the right. It hits the body of a Sri Lankan defender. Penalty stroke.
02:30 pm We are moments away from the start. The teams are in the middle...
01:56 pm India have already scored 56 goals in the tournament so far. Here’s a breakdown of how they scored them:-
01:35 pm Hello and welcome to the live coverage of India versus Sri Lanka. The Islanders, ranked 33 places below their fifth ranked neighbours, know that their chances aren’t too bright to win this one. And, with a goal difference of -14 in the points table, their semi-final hopes look glum as well. So, it makes this contest a dead rubber. But India, after a slightly nervy 5-3 win against Korea, would want to finish their group engagements on a high. So, they’d like to score as many goals in this contest and make a statement to their semi-final opponents.