After an emphatic win over neighbors and arch-rival Pakistan, the Indian Hockey team will face a stiff challenge against New Zealand today.
India is currently sitting above the New Zealand in the points table with a lead of one point. New Zealand have lost two of their five matches whereas India have won three out of four.
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Both the sides endured defeat in the hands of top side Australia and won their matches against Japan.
| POS | TEAMS | PPLAYED | WON | LOST | DRAW | GD | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 12 |
| 2 | India | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 4 | Canada | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 5 |
| 5 | Malaysia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 5 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -8 | 3 |
| 7 | Japan | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -7 | 0 |
The Men in Blue come into this match on the back of a thumping 5-1 win over bitter rivals Pakistan. The win was their biggest win over their neighbors in the last six years. The players are in a very positive frame of mind as they prepare for a top of the table encounter.
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Indian Coach Roelant Oltmans will be very happy to see how his boys have bounced back from a thrashing defeat against Australia.
However, there is always room for improvement in the sports as they haven’t performed well against a top side in the tournament so far. The Rio bound team has to reach the top of their game from this tournament to keep their Olympics medal alive.
The team seems to hit the right balance
The Indian team is full of youngsters, many of them playing in their first big senior level tournament under the leadership of Sardar Singh. The mixture of youth exuberance and experience seems to have hit the right balance finally. The seniors are guiding the juniors in the international arena.
Young drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh has already scored two goals in the tournament. Young goalkeeper Harjot Singh has also performed well in the absence of star goalkeeper Sreejesh.
With the senior pal, SV Sunil scoring two goals in the last match the confidence of the team boasted a lot. India will be looking to keep their excellent run intact when they face New Zealand on Wednesday.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2016: India vs New Zealand 2016 Match Details
TV Channel: Star Sports 1/HD and Star Sports 3/HD
Match Date: 13 March 2016, Wednesday
Match Time: 1.35 IST, 10.00 GMT
Match Venue: Azlan Shah Stadium
Team news:
India: Harjot Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh Jasjit Singh Kular, Kothajit Singh, Surender Singh, Chinglensena Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh (c), SK Uthappa, Mandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Ramandeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah, Talwinder Singh, Akash Anil Chikte, Danish Mujtaba, Harjeet Singh
New Zealand: Devon Manchester, Kyle Pontife, Cory Bennett, Nick Haig, Kane Russell, Alex Shaw, Brad Shaw, Blair Tarrant, Ryan Archibald, Shea McAleese, George Muir, Arun Panchia, Nick Ross, Nic Woods, Marcus Child, Simon Child (C), James Coughlan, Blair Hilton, Hugo Inglis, Stephen Jenness, Shay Neal, Dominic Newman, Jared Panchia, Jacob Smith, Nick Wilson.
Recent Form:
India: L-W-W
New Zealand: L-W-L
