The Indian men’s hockey team jumped two places to fourth in the latest FIH rankings on the back of its rare back-back wins against world champions Germany and Australia in the Pro League matches in Rourkela.
Significantly, India moved ahead of hockey powerhouse Australia, who dropped one place to fifth.
Germany, who were on top spot after winning the World Cup title in Odisha in January, also slipped two places to the third spot after losing back-to-back matches to India.
India won all their four matches — two each against Germany and Australia — in their FIH Pro League matches played at the Birsa Munda Stadium, the world’s largest all-seater venue.
This is less than two months after India made a shocking last-16 exit in the World Cup held here and in Bhubaneswar in January.
India won both the double-legged matches against Germany 3-2 and 6-3 while they beat Australia 5-4 and 4-3 in the penalty shootout (after 2-2 in regulation time) in the first and second games.
Not only the all-win performance took India to the top of the FIH Pro League points table, but the side led by Harmanpreet Singh also jumped two places from earlier sixth to fourth in the latest FIH rankings.
The Netherlands, who won bronze in the World Cup, are at the top spot while runners-up Belgium occupied second place in the latest rankings. “These things (world ranking) don’t matter to us so much. We don’t keep this in mind when we play. Our only priority was to convert our chances and keep the pressure on the opponent,” India captain Harmanpreet Singh said.
“Some of the youngsters who got an opportunity to show their talent also stood up to the occasion and did very well for themselves as well as the team,” said Harmanpreet, who is currently the leading goal-scorer in the ongoing FIH Pro League.
The Indian team then won two classification matches at the Birsa Munda Stadium to finish at joint ninth place in the World Cup.