It boiled down to India’s last penalty stroke of the match. Rupinder Pal Singh stepped up and put it away coolly, making it look pretty routine. Except that India's 3-2 win on shootouts came at the end of a game that was anything but routine.
For those frustrated with Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers’ epic blockathon in Delhi, there was the perfect antidote in the evening – an incredible ten-goal thriller between India and the Netherlands in the third-place playoff of the Hockey World League finals at Raipur on Sunday.
At half-time, it looked dead and buried for India. Down 2-0 with the Netherlands coasting, it looked like it would be another disappointing night for Sardara Singh and his men.
But things exploded soon. India, finding form from nowhere, struck back to score three in succession and take an unbelievable lead in the 51st minute. The Netherlands immediately fought back to score their own goal and make it 3-3. With five minutes to go, it seemed certain that the match would go to a shootout.
It did go to a shootout, but not in the way everyone expected. A foul off a penalty corner allowed Rupinder Pal Singh an easy penalty stroke which he duly converted. Then Akashdeep Singh got a final touch from a Sardara Singh to make it 5-3 with only five minutes to go.
Surely the match was won now?
Just that the Netherlands weren’t just done yet. With two minutes left, it was their turn to benefit from a foul at a penalty corner, Mink van der Weerden making it 5-4 with a penalty stroke. And he scored again with the last play of the match to make it an astounding 5-5.
India started off badly in the shootouts, missing their first two strokes. Once again they looked like they would throw the match away. It was then that India’s keeper Sreejesh Parattu stepped up, making a sequence of amazing saves to keep India in the game. And once Rupinder had put it away, the crowd went wild after watching a match that they will probably never forget. And India won a bronze that had seemed quite out of its grasp earlier in the tournament.
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