India end home leg of Hockey Pro League on a high, beat England 2-1 to rise to 3rd place on points table

India ended the home leg of the Hockey Pro League with a 2-1 win against England on Tuesday (February 25) after having lost to the English side a day earlier.

Harmanpreet Singh gave India the lead off a penalty corner but conceded a penalty stroke for an obstruction on an English player in the circle, resulting in a penalty stroke that the visitors scored from.

Harmanpreet made amends by scoring a second off another penalty corner in the third quarter, which proved to be the winner in a close Hockey Pro League game at the Kalinga Stadium.

Krishan Pathak was tested early by Henry Croft in the second minute but the Indian goalkeeper used his kickers to good effect. Nicholas Park had a narrow angle to attempt a shot on goal but was thwarted by Jugraj Singh in the 10th minute even as England enjoyed the better of the exchanges.

Croft was back in the Indian circle in the 17th minute but failed to get past Amit Rohidas.

Jugraj Singh was shown a yellow card for an ugly shove on Jacob Payton. Payton failed to latch on to the rebound off a drag flick after England were awarded a penalty corner in the 24th minute.

Harmanpreet Singh scored his first goal of the competition with a scorching drag flick that made its way into the back of the England goal in the 26th minute.

Ariajeet Singh Hundal's powerful strike missed the target in the 27th minute before England a penalty corner a couple of minutes later.

Samuel Hooper's drag flick was stopped by Suraj Karkera but Harmanpreet SIngh's foul on Paytonwho was attempting to pick up the rebound resulted in a penalty stroke for England.

Conor Williamson made no mistake from the spot to allow England to level things up at the stroke of halftime.

Nicholas Park ran down Harmanpreet Singh's drag flick in the 33rd minute but the captain doubled India's lead off the re-award much to the delight of the crowd in Bhubaneswar.

Harmanpreet looked to be in great pain on the sidelines after scoring the goal but the Indians managed to hang on to their one-goal lead in the third quarter.

England were awarded a penalty corner in the 47th minute which was upheld by the video umpire even though the ball appeared to have missed Yashdeep Siwach's foot. Suraj Karkera stopped Sam Ward's drag flick which came straight at him. An England referral for a penalty corner at the death was turned down enabling the home side to earn three vital points in their eighth Hockey Pro League game.

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How has India fared in the home leg of the Hockey Pro League?

India now has 15 points from 8 games in the Hockey Pro League- Source: Hockey India

The Indian men's team got off to a disappointing start going down 1-3 to Spain in their Hockey Pro League opener before getting the better of Max Caldas' team 2-0 in the second game.

A shocking 1-4 loss to Germany was followed by a 1-0 win against the Germans after which the Indians steadied the ship.

Two back-to-back wins against Ireland (3-1 and 4-0) set the stage for bigger things to come but Craig Fulton's team flattered to deceive going down 2-3 to England in an error-prone encounter.

The Indians put on a much-improved show against England in the second game to come away winners with a 2-1 scoreline and climb to the third position on the points table.