India women's hockey team vs Great Britain: Head to head, ranking and more details

India's women's hockey team is on the cusp of creating history at Olympics 2021. The team will play the most important match in their history when they face Great Britain in the bronze medal match on the 6th of August.

Check Out: Tokyo Olympics 2021 Schedule

India, who had participated in just two Olympics before the Tokyo Games, have had a dream run in the tournament. After losing their opening three games, where they scored just 2 goals and conceded 11, India won three crucial games on the trot to make it to the semifinals. This included defeating 3-time Olympic champions Australia in the quarter-finals.

The Argentine challenge India faced in the semifinal proved to be a little too stiff. The South American team defeated the Indian Eves 1-0. India gave their best, but Argentina were one step ahead of India at every crucial moment in the match. It was not to be for them.

Tremendous passion and fighting spirit from Indian women's hockey team!It's been a great and historic journey by our girls till #TokyoOlympics2020semi-final.We will all rally behind you for the #BronzeAll the best. pic.twitter.com/L53VVhCucX

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 4, 2021

Great Britain finished in 3rd place in Pool A. They lost just two games to the Netherlands and Germany. These defeats were also very close encounters that could have gone either way. They scraped through the quarter-finals against Spain in a shoot-out and booked a place in the semis. However, the mighty Dutch team gave the British side a 5-1 mauling in the semi-final.

Great Britain are the defending champions at the Olympics. Having lost the chance to reclaim the gold medal, the bronze medal will be a matter of pride for them. They will be raring to walk out on the pitch on Friday and will take great confidence in knowing that they beat India 4-1 in their Pool A encounter.

Both the teams now clash against each other in order to claim the bronze medal. Let's take a look at what the numbers show us about this fixture.

India women's hockey team vs Great Britain head-to-head

Since the Indian women's hockey team has not played in the FIH Pro League, the encounters between India and Great Britain have been limited. On occasions when the two have faced each other, the edge has been with the team from Europe.

In the last 4 encounters, Great Britain has won twice, and the remaining two have been draws. This includes the Pool encounter between the teams at Olympics 2021. In these four matches, Great Britain have scored 9 goals as compared to India's 4.

India and Great Britain's world rankings

The Great Britain side is not ranked by the FIH. However, most of the players in the team are from England, along with a few players from Scotland and Wales. The FIH ranking currently has England in 4th place.

The Indian team currently sits in the 7th place in the world rankings. Due to their recent consistency, they have seen a jump in their rankings.

Prediction for the bronze medal match

When the two teams face each other in the bronze medal match, Great Britain, without a doubt, will be the favorite to claim victory. However, ruling out India from the contest can prove to be a costly mistake. The Indian team knows how to handle themselves against higher-ranked opponents as was seen by Australia.

For Great Britain's team, the medal is about saving their pride and proving that they are still one of the top teams in the world. For India, it is an opportunity to mark a golden chapter in their history. The game will be tense as nerves will be a factor, and it will be an even contest, with the team that manages pressure better likely to take home the prize.