The Hindu : Sport : India rallies to beat New Zealand

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Monday, Feb 23, 2009
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India rallies to beat New Zealand

Wellington: After conceding an early goal, India rallied to beat New Zealand 2-1 in the second Test of the four-match hockey series at the National Stadium here on Sunday.

The home side took the early lead with Simon Child sounding the boards in the fourth minute. Tushar Khandekar restored parity for India in the 30th minute while skipper Sandeep Singh produced the match-winner with a penalty corner conversion in the 55th minute to give his side a 1-0 lead in the series.

In the fourth minute, midfielder Bradley Shaw sent a nice ball down the left past India’s right-half Gurbaj Singh to Child who pushed home from an acute angle well beyond the reach of goalkeeper Baljit Singh.

The Indians, however, regrouped immediately and took control of the proceedings.

They dominated the midfield with Sardar Singh, Arjun Halappa, Khandekar and Prabodh Tirkey denying any space to the Kiwis.

Chances galore

The midfield quartet created several chances for forwards Shivendra Singh and Rajpal Singh but the New Zealand defenders thwarted them until five minutes before the breather when Khandekar received a free hit from Sandeep, turned and nailed a reverse flick from close range to make it 1-1.

With 15 minutes remaining, Sandeep stepped in for his third penalty corner and finally hit the back of the net with his drag-flick. — PTI

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