Perth: The Indian A team played out a frustrating 1-1 draw against Northern Territory in a pool B encounter of the Australian Hockey League on Monday.
The visitors, despite taking an early lead could not hold on, as Northern Territory scored late in the 34th minute to end with a draw.
India took the lead through Mohammad Umar, who scored in just the sixth minute of the match, giving his country a paltry lead over the opponent. The next few minutes of the first quarter saw Northern Territory chase the match coming close on a couple of occasions. But the Indians successfully defended their lead as the first quarter drew to an end.
A well-organised defence saw India maintain the lead. Indian forwards Armaan Qureshi and Affan Yousuf even came quite close to scoring in the Second quarter, but the game remained inact.
The third-quarter saw the Northern Territory put up an improved performance, forcing India into making a series of errors. A little lapse in concentration resulted in a penalty stroke in the 34th minute, from which Adrian Lockley calmly scored to equalise for the home team.
The last few minutes of the match saw both the teams go on an all out attack. But, defence of both the teams remained resilient. The scoreboard remained untouched.
Although, India went for the kill in the final few minutes they were unable to break the tight Northern Territory defence as the game eventually finished at 1-1.
Earlier, India A had beaten Western Australia 4-1 in a convincing fashion, in their opening match of the tour. They however could carry on the good run as they lost to the New South Wales in the very next match with a solitary goal.
India A next play the Australian Capital Territory in their next Pool B match in Tuesday.