Antwerp (Belgium), June 14 (IANS) The Indian men’s hockey team suffered another heartbreak as they slumped to defeat despite taking a 2-0 lead as the Kookaburras bounced back to prevail 3-2 in the ongoing FIH Hockey Pro League 2024/25 here in Antwerp on Saturday.

Following four successive narrow losses in the European leg, the Indian team, sans their captain Harmanpreet Singh, had a dream start against Australia until they floundered in the final quarter, allowing their opponents to come back. It was goals by Nathan Ephraums (42′), Joel Rintala (56′), and Tom Craig (60′) that put Australia ahead, while Abhishek (8′, 35′) scored a double for India.

It was an entertaining opening quarter with India taking the lead as early as the eighth minute of the game. The initial few minutes saw both teams trade chances in the circles until a perfect pass from the midfield by Manpreet Singh, who is on 399 international caps, to Abhishek positioned at the top of the circle fetched India a crucial 1-0 lead.

Abhishek did well to beat the defender to find the net. Only two minutes later, Australia threatened to equalise when James Collins won Australia’s first penalty corner with some clever work in the circle, finding the Indian defender’s foot.

But Suraj Karkera has shown great promise in this tournament, standing firm in the post and making a brilliant stop with his foot. He was kept busy in the following minutes as the Australian attack raided the circle with multiple chances, but the Mumbai lad was up to the task.

India was cautious in the second quarter. Did well to defend the 1-0 lead and also came close to doubling it when experienced Mandeep Singh set up Manpreet at the goalmouth with a quick-fire cross pass, but Manpreet couldn’t quite get the right deflection.

Though Australia turned the tables on India in the third quarter, pushing for that elusive first goal, India doubled the lead in the 35th minute, thanks to the handy work of Sukhjeet Singh, who made a clever assist to Abhishek. Adding a double to his name in this match, Abhishek made no mistake in pumping it past the Australian goalie Ashleigh Thomas.

Australia eventually did find an opportunity to score through Nathan Ephraums with a fine assist by Tom Craig.

The final quarter was nervy for Indian hockey fans with Australia mustering back-to-back PCs, but Suraj Karkera was on top of his game to keep Australia at bay. With a little over five minutes left for the final hooter, Australia won another PC and this time, they equalised with Joel Rintala’s conversion. They extended the lead in the 60th minute with another PC well-struck by Tom Craig, handing India another heartbreaking loss on the trot.

India will again take on Australia at the same venue on Sunday before concluding their tour with two games against host Belgium on June 21 and 22, respectively.

–IANS

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