India vs Spain Hockey Match Highlights: Goals from Amit Rohidas (12′) and Hardik Singh (26′) helped India start their Hockey World Cup marketing campaign with a 2-zero win over Spain in Odisha’s Rourkela on Friday.

After a bronze medal withinside the Tokyo Olympics in 2022, the Indian crew will are seeking for their first podium end in forty eight years withinside the World Cup now. India received a bronze withinside the inaugural event in 1971 and clinched a silver withinside the subsequent version in 1973.

Currently ranked 6th withinside the world, the Indian crew might be one of the medal contenders with the gifted bunch led with the aid of using Harmanpreet Singh rising as a pressure to reckon with. In the preceding version, additionally held in Bhubaneswar, India had exited on the quarterfinal degree after dropping to the Netherlands, the eventual runners-up, and they’d be seeking to attain at the least the semifinals this time.

India has additionally carried out nicely withinside the FIH Hockey Pro League, completing 0.33 withinside the 2021-22 season. The self assurance and the prevailing mentality is lower back with the crew.

In between, Akashdeep Singh proved he nonetheless had the abilties to scouse borrow balls easily in advance and the Indian defence appeared unbreakable, rarely permitting Spain into the circle withinside the first 25 minutes. Goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak had a great recreation and stored enhancing because the healthy progressed.

It turned into toward the give up of the 2d sector that the Spaniards commenced getting their act collectively to try to extrade the script. It nearly labored withinside the 2d half. They commenced last down space, implementing turnovers, breaking the sector into small pockets – like in the course of training – to govern the recreation. India nonetheless held the top hand with the forwards continuously incomes penalty corners and nagging the competition defence however Spain turned into dealing with to pry open an occasional gap.

Indian Squad for Hockey World Cup 2023

Harmanpreet Singh (Captain), Amit Rohidas (Vice-Captain), PR Sreejesh (Goalkeeper), Krishna Pathak (Goalkeeper), Surendra Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Neelkant Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Neelam Sanjeep X, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Jugraj Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjit Singh.