The most important moment of the match came with just 16 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter. A lobbed pass came in from the deep towards Abhishek, stationed inside the opposition shooting circle. There was a faint move to try and trap the ball, but the Indian striker abandoned the attempt. There was a more serious matter to address.
In his haste to get into position, Abhishek appeared to twist his ankle and sank to the surface of the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium on Monday. This looked to be a serious blow to the team as they took on Bangladesh in their final Pool A match of the men’s hockey tournament at the Asian Games.
The result of the match did not quite matter, India were already through to the semi-finals as table toppers. Eventually, the highest ranked team in the tournament brushed aside the Bangladeshi challenge with a 10-0 win in Kakamigahara.
What they wanted though was to go into the knockouts with their players in good form and health. Abhishek, who has scored eight times for the Indian team at the 20th Asian Games and was among the brighter sparks in an otherwise forgettable World Cup performance last month, did make a brief appearance in the second half. He was, however, soon taken off pitch and given a rest.
Abhishek had opened the scoring for India in the third minute before Bangladesh grew tighter in defence and kept the Indian attacks away from goal.
Abhishek’s injury, though, seemed to have had an effect on his teammates as India dropped the intensity in order to ensure there would be no more untoward moments on the field. This, however, was a match in which India could afford to shift to a lower gear.
The campaign had begun with straight-forward 13-1 and 16-1 wins over minnows Indonesia and Sri Lanka respectively. They then stormed to an 8-2 win over former champions South Korea before beating 2018 gold medallists Japan 2-0 to secure their spot in the semi-final.
Against world No.27 Bangladesh, India proved to be too strong a team even if they were not playing – deliberately – to the best of their ability.
Jugraj Singh doubled the score for the tournament favourites in the 22nd minute after converting a penalty stroke for his sixth goal of the competition.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh then got in on the act, scoring off his first penalty corner (PC) attempt in the 27th minute before completing his hat-trick with two more well taken drag-flicks in the 40 and 45th minutes.
India striker Sukhjeet Singh got on the scoresheet, putting the finishing touches at the end of an irresistible passing move to open up the defence and tap home into an empty net. Shilanand Lakra also scored in the 44th minute by slotting home into an empty net after a wavy run down the right flank.
A minute later, Lakra scored his second with a snapshot reverse hit that left the Bangladesh goalkeeper rooted to the spot.
The fourth quarter remained rather quiet in terms of goals scored, until the last two minutes of play in which Sanjay hammered a drag-flick into the roof of the net, and Mandeep Singh tapped the ball calmly into an empty net to secure another impressive win for India as they moved into the semi-final.
As toppers of Pool A, they have booked a second meeting in as many months against historical rivals Pakistan. At the World Cup, an error-prone India managed to secure a 5-3 win over Pakistan on Thursday.
They will need to bring in their best this time, with a gold medal and an Olympic quota now within touching distance.
