Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Australia come back to defeat India 3-1

India went down fighting in their game against defending champions Australia in a thriller of an encounter here at the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2017 on Tuesday. Eddie Ockenden (30’), Tom Craig (34’) and Tom Wickham (51’) scored for Australia’s while India’s lone scorer was Harmanpreet Singh (26’).

Earlier, the Kookaburras (Australian Men’s Team) took on India in their third game at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia tonight.

With both teams missing early chances to score on penalty corners it took until the 26th minute of play for India to get the first goal of the game, with Harmanpreet Singh scoring a field goal with a quick run across the face of the net.

In final minute of the half it was Eddie Ockenden who levelled the playing field between the two sides, with Jeremy Hayward flicking from a distance into the pads of goal keeper Akash Chikte before Ockenden scored from the deflection.

“We started off well in the first few minutes, but after that India had a long period on top. Just before half time Eddie Ockenden scored which significantly turned the game around for us. Eddie had a stand out game and is playing very well up in the forward line.”

With more missed penalty corner opportunities minutes into the second half, it was Tom Craig who gave the Kookaburras the lead for the first time in the match; trapping a pass from Matt Swann before reverse flicking the ball into the net to score a field goal.

Trailing the Kookaburras with just 15 minutes to go in the game, India pressed hard to create penalty corner opportunities which they struggled to convert. In the 51st minute of play, the Kookaburras further extended their lead thanks to a field goal from Tom Wickham.

With just over five minutes to go, India replaced their goalkeeper with Rupinder Pal Singh as the kicking back in a last bid to reclaim the match, but Australia held on to the lead to take out their second win of the tournament.

Kookaburras head coach Colin Batch said: “We coped with the hot conditions tonight very well and I was pleased with the result. We came from behind and were able to improve our performance during the game.

On May 3, India take on Japan at 13.35 hrs IST at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, while Kookaburras next play Great Britain on Wednesday, May 2 at 6.05pm AWST / 8.05pm AEST.