Their title defence off to a rousing start, five-time champions India will look to continue their winning juggernaut when they take on an unfamiliar and youthful China in their second round-robin match at the Asian Champions Trophy here on Thursday.
Fresh from winning back-to-back gold medals at the Asian Games, which directly secured their berth at the Los Angeles Olympics, the Indians looked unstoppable against a hapless Bangladesh, who replaced Pakistan in the competition after the latter refused to travel to India, citing security reasons.
It was largely one-way traffic, with play mostly confined to Bangladesh’s half. Bangladesh might not be a force to reckon with against India, but the most heartening aspect was that the Harmanpreet Singh-led side scored from both field goals and penalty corners. The Indians scored as many as eight field goals and five goals from set pieces against Bangladesh.
The icing on the cake was veteran striker Mandeep Singh’s return to form, as he scored a fine hat-trick to make a statement ahead of the national selectors’ assessment, after he was reportedly identified as one of four senior players, alongside Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas and Nilakanta Sharma, to be phased out after the ACT.
While Nilakanta announced on Tuesday that this would be his last international tournament, Mandeep and Jarmanpreet want to continue playing. Besides Mandeep, skipper Harmanpreet, Dilpreet Singh and vice-captain Hardik Singh scored a brace each, while Shilanand Lakra, Nilakanta and Jugraj Singh also found the net once against Bangladesh. Expectedly, India’s chief coach Craig Fulton was happy with Mandeep’s effort. “He (Mandeep) was good, he did full of running and was nice and sharp, which was important,” he said.