Mumbai: The seasoned Mandeep Singh was lurking near the penalty spot, away from the attention of the Sri Lanka defenders crowded inside their own shooting circle. Abhishek managed to get the ball to the seasoned striker and Mandeep made no mistake, hammering home for India’s first goal within five minutes.
India did not even have to rely much on captain Harmanpreet Singh to score off penalty corners with second-choice drag-flicker Jugraj Singh coming good twice in the match. Jugraj converted two penalty strokes as well, finishing with four goals. That strategy worked well against Sri Lanka with Harmanpreet netting a brace.
On Tuesday, Harmanpreet shortened his run-up to no more than one stride to take away time from the defenders to narrow his angles.
Two days earlier they beat unfancied Indonesia 13-1 to get their title defence off to a perfect start. The goals continued to flow against Sri Lanka, whom India had beaten 20-0 the last time they met at the Asian Games – in 2018. Often, a goal is celebrated with gusto. Mandeep merely smiled and gave a round of high-fives to his teammates. Another positive was that most of India’s tally came through field goals. After Mandeep’s opening goal with a fine finish, Abhishek and Dilpreet Singh showed their skill and flair inside the shooting circle, both picking up hat-tricks. The experienced Manpreet Singh also chipped in with a goal, as did Sukhjeet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad, with India relying on eight different scorers in their romp to victory. Sri Lanka did manage a consolation goal in the 50th minute through Suresh Rathnayake, who scored at a time when the Indians had switched off for what they thought was a foul in the build-up.
It was a rather muted celebration of India’s opening goal in their Asian Games Pool A match against Sri Lanka at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium on Tuesday.
