"Give Savita Punia the Bharat Ratna" - Twitterati heap praise on Indian goalkeeper after team beats New Zealand 2-1 to win CWG 2022 bronze medal

Savita Punia led from the front and made scintiilating saves as India won the bronze medal, beating New Zealand in a pulsating shootout, at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG 2022).

Savita Punia, true to her moniker of Save-ita, stood like a rock in front of the goal to deny New Zealand as the Indian women's hockey team won 2-1 (1-1 after regulation time).

Sonika and Navneet Kaur scored for India in the shootout while Salima Tete scored in the 29th minute of open play.

The bronze medal is India's third at the Commonwealth Games, coming after a gap of 16 years. India won the gold medal in the 2002 edition and the silver medal in the 2006 edition.

After Savita Punia's breathtaking saves in the shootout, Indian fans took to social media to congratulate her and the team for winning the bronze medal.

Read: CWG 2022: Avinash Sable breaks national record again, wins silver medal in 3,000m steeplechase event

As Savita Punia made the last save, the Indian bench broke out into a frenzy with wild celebrations and happy tears and the players lifted head coach Janneke Schopman along with Savita Punia to culminate a rewarding campaign.

Fans lauded Savita Punia as a legend of Indian hockey while some even wanted her to be offered with the Bharat Ratna.

Here are some of the reactions.

CWG 2022: Savita Punia-led team concede goal in last minute of regulation time

The Indian women's hockey team were on cue and let for 59 minutes of the match, before a foul in the last minute gave New Zealand a penalty corner, and subsequently, a penalty stroke to come back into the match.

New Zealand's Olivia Merry converted the penalty stroke and pushed the match to the shootouts.

India owned the match for most parts of the game. The players had good coordination among themselves and also created a host of chances.

New Zealand could have gone ahead early in the match but Nisha made sure there was no trouble. New Zealand would have rued a missed opportunity as Savita Punia was way out of her line.

However, it was only a matter of time before India took the lead. Salima Tete latched on to a pass from Navneet Kaur and beat the Kiwi goalkeeper with a splendid reverse scoop. The Indians could have finished the job seconds earlier too had Sharmila connected cleanly at the near post. New Zealand went for a review to check for a backstick shot but the umpire upheld the goal.

India tried a variation in their first penalty corner of the match but Udita's shot was blocked on the line by an agile Kiwi defender.

India continued to press hard as Neha Goyal and Navneet Kaur played an excellent one-two on the right flank. Neha did well to dribble and send a weak pass across but no Indian striker was on cue to take the pass.

New Zealand almost restored parity when Olivia Merry tapped a pass into the goal. The Indian team went for a referral and were successful as the goal was disallowed as New Zealand did not take the ball five yards behind after getting a free hit.

New Zealand got another chance when their striker came face-to-face with Savita Punia but the Indian goalkeeper averted any danger. The ball went to Olivia Shannon, who missed from close range.

Both teams lived dangerously in the final quarter, with India creating more opportunities through back-to-back penalty corners, but the scoreline remained intact.

New Zealand pressed hard in the final few miuntes but were unable to breach Savita Punia, who stood like a rock in the Indian goal.

New Zealand removed their goalkeeper as an extra player in the final four minutes and with India's Lalremsiami getting a yellow card in the final few minutes for not playing to the whistle, New Zealand got the extra push.

Neha Goyal made a foul in the dying minutes of the game as New Zealand got a penalty corner and with Navneet Kaur committing another foul, a penalty stroke was awarded to New Zealand with just 10 seconds left on the clock.

Olivia Merry converted a penalty stroke and pushed the match to the shootouts.