The Indian men’s hockey team began their campaign at the Men’s Asian Hockey 5s World Cup Qualifier with a solid 15-1 win over Bangladesh in Salalah, Oman. India started the match on the front foot, making a dangerous move straight away and allowing Pawan Rajbhar to make a penetrating run.
But Bangladesh made the save and caught India on the counter-attack and Sawon Sarowar (2’) scored the first goal in the match for Bangladesh. Mohammed Raheel (2’) brought India back to level terms straightaway with a powerful shot of his own. After the initial flurry of attacks, both India and Bangladesh started playing cautiously to avoid early goals. But the hold was broken by Indian skipper Mandeep Mor (8’), who struck a stunning goal in the 8th minute to put India in the lead.
With goals from Dipsan Tirkey (9’) and Maninder Singh (10’), India extended their lead to 4-1 in the next couple of minutes. A stunning save from goalkeeper Suraj Karkera led to an Indian counter-attack and Gurjot Singh (13’) made the most of it, scoring another goal. Goals from Sukhvinder (13’) and Mohammed Raheel (15’) closed out the first half with India leading by 7-1. India began the second half with another attack from the right flank and Maninder Singh (18’) struck the back of the nets to continue the goal fest for India. Less than a minute later, Pawan Rajbhar (19’) put his name on the score sheet with the ninth goal for India. Maintaining possession, India pressed deeper in Bangladesh’s half, and Sukhvinder (22’) took India’s goal tally to double figures with a shot from near the halfway mark. A minute later, Gurjot Singh (23’) struck the back of the nets once again as India further extended their lead. A reverse hit from Mohammed Raheel (24’) completed his hat-trick two minutes later as India continued to give no respite to the opposition’s defence. Pawan Rajbhar (26’) scored the back of the nets again to score his second goal of the match. With two minutes left on the clock, Maninder Singh (28’, 30’) completed his hat-trick, and scored another goal at the stroke of final whistle, to help India secure a dominant 15-1 win.
