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India held world No. 1 Netherlands to a 1-1 draw to earn its first point in two matches of the four-nation hockey tournament in Terrassa, Spain.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh gave India a lead when he converted a penalty corner in the 12th minute ,the Dutch team equalised through Jasper Brinkman in the 39th minute to share the points.
The draw means that India have not beaten the Netherlands in their last six meetings. Their last victory over the Dutch came in January 2020.
India had lost their opening match against Spain 1-2 in the 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation International Tournament .The Men in Blue with one point from two matches will need to win its last league match against England on Friday to have any chance of reaching the final.
After a tentative start in which both teams enjoyed phases of possession, Harmanpreet drew first blood with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. The ace drag flicker expert placed his penalty corner into the bottom corner and left Dutch keeper Visser Maurits rooted to his spot.
With a one-goal lead , India started the second quarter aggressively and created a flurry of chances. However, Maurits made several good saves, including two from Harmanpreet penalty corners, to ensure the deficit didn’t increase.
After being on the defensive for most of the time the Dutch launched fierce counter attacks to gain a foothold in the contest. however, Indians crowded their defence while Looking for quick breakaways. The Dutch created a good opportunity to equalise 10 minutes into the second quarter but Terrance Pieters fell just short of applying the decisive touch to a move from the right.
Despite the Dutch dominating the closing minutes of the first half, India managed to take a 1-0 lead into the second period.
After changing sides, the Dutch looked the more dominant of the two sides on the ball but their strikers failed to hit the target inside the opposition circle. However, the sustained pressure eventually paid off as Jasper Brinkman beat Sreejesh with a powerful penalty corner to draw his team level.
Manpreet Singh came close to restoring India’s advantage in the dying seconds of the third quarter but couldn’t get past an excellent Maurits.
The game opened up considerably in the final quarters with both sides throwing caution to the wind and creating some chances. Neither team, however, managed to come up with the decisive final touch to materialize a goal.
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