1-5, 2-4 and 1-2.
The series has been lost but as the final scores of the three matches against Australia indicate, the Indian men's hockey team has shown gradual improvement over three games. From Australia running riot in the opening game, to the home team earning a hard-fought victory in the third, there's definitely progress.
But the progress is mainly related to India's defence, which is not a surprise considering Craig Fulton's preferred brand of hockey. However, for all their progress, India have lost all their matches so far and that's mostly due to a failure in their attacking game.
India's attack goes missing again
Before the match on Wednesday, it was clear that India's defence would come under extreme pressure - because that's the only way Australia play their hockey.
In the opening two quarters, India had their full focus on quelling the attacking moves of their opponents. Defenders Amit Rohidas and Jugraj Singh were spot on with their tackles and interceptions. Hardik Singh was also covering his defenders with well-timed blocks and PR Sreejesh was at his trademark best, saving as many as four penalty corner efforts in the first quarter. In fact, both the goalkeepers hardly made mistakes, with Krishan Pathak also producing a couple of brilliant saves.
The defensive work rate of the team helped India stay in the match and they eventually took the lead, for only the second time in the series, thanks to a powerful drag-flick by Jugraj in the 41st minute. However, a few minutes later, Rohidas, who was having a brilliant game until then, made a dreadful mistake at the back. He miscontrolled a pass under no pressure and then ended up fouling inside the box. A penalty stroke was given and Jeremy Hayward made no mistake in converting the chance. Eventually Australia took the lead after Hayward converted a penalty corner opportunity in the fourth quarter. Moments before the goal, Sreejesh stood tall to deny a couple of drag-flick chances, but this time the ball was too high, and he couldn't get his body up in time to block the shot.
Mistakes are very much part of the game. Despite the error, Rohidas was one of India's best players on the pitch. Even with his outstanding form, Sreejesh was beaten - part of the game, again. The problem on Wednesday and in the previous match was that India's attack never really got going.
It's odd that India's attack is in focus because this team doesn't really struggle to score. They have quality forwards who are quick in transitions and create chances aplenty - both in terms of penalty corners and open play situations. In this tour, India's attackers have struggled a lot. It's clear that Fulton wants his team to play to the counter-attacking gameplan. Consequently, Australia are the best opponents for that gameplan considering their ultra-aggressive style leaves plenty of space on turnovers. Whenever India had a good counter-attacking situation, the players were either a touch slow in moving the ball (which helped Australia to fall back) or were guilty of committing silly errors.
It was no different in the third match. Whenever India had the chance for a quick turnover, they were uncharacteristically slow and frequently lost the ball in the midfield. It was only in the fourth quarter that India showed some kind of urgency in the attacking third, resulting in a couple of chances for Dilpreet Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay. Abhishek had his moments but not consistently enough and Vivek Sagar Prasad was, once again, not at his best in the midfield. Only Mohammed Raheel showed a bit of creativity with the ball, but he needs to improve his final ball.
To their credit though, India have been finding goals from their drag-flickers - both Jugraj and Harmanpreet scored in the last couple of matches. But they can be effective only when the team creates opportunities for them. On Wednesday, Australia won nine penalty corners to India's two, out of which Jugraj scored the one.
There are still two more matches left in the series. In the larger context, these particular results don't matter as the tour is being used for Olympic preparation. Nevertheless, Fulton needs more from his attacking unit in the next two matches.
Remaining matches:
April 12 (3 pm IST)
April 13 (2 pm IST)