The Indian men’s hockey team jumped two locations to fourth in the newest FIH rankings on the again of its uncommon back-to-back wins towards world champions Germany and Australia in the Pro League matches in Rourkela.
Significantly, India moved forward of hockey powerhouse Australia, who dropped one place to fifth.
Germany, who had been on prime spot after profitable World Cup title in Odisha in January, additionally slipped two locations to third spot after dropping back-to-back matches to India.
India gained all their 4 matches – two every towards Germany and Australia – in their FIH Pro League matches performed on the Birsa Munda Stadium, the world’s largest all-seater venue.
This is lower than two months after India made a stunning final 16 exit in the World Cup held right here and in Bhubaneswar in January.
India gained each the double-legged matches towards Germany 3-2 and 6-3 whereas they beat Australia 5-4 and 4-3 in penalty shootout (after 2-2 in regulation time) in the primary and second video games.
Not solely the all-win efficiency took India to the highest of the FIH Pro League factors desk, the facet led by Harmanpreet Singh jumped two locations from earlier sixth to fourth in the newest FIH rankings.
The Netherlands, who gained bronze in the World Cup, are on the prime spot whereas runners-up Belgium occupy the second place in the newest 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 stated.
(*4*) stated Harmanpreet, who’s at present the main goal-scorer in the continued FIH Pro League with 11 objectives, forward of Belgium’s Alexander Hendrickx (six objectives).
The 21,000-capacity Birsa Munda Stadium has turned out to be a fortress for the Indian team remained unbeaten in eight matches. The Indian team has gained seven and drawn as soon as on the venue.
India performed 4 matches on the venue in the World Cup — two in group stage and two in the classification stage — and gained thrice and drawn as soon as. India beat Spain 2-0 in the primary group match and performed out a 0-0 draw towards England in the second.
It beat Wales 4-2 in the final group match on the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar earlier than dropping to New Zealand in penalty shootout in the knockout crossover recreation on the identical venue to crash out of the showpiece.
The Indian team then gained two classification matches on the Birsa Munda Stadium to end at joint ninth place in the World Cup.
“We are happy to keep our record intact here in Rourkela. We haven’t lost a single match here in this magnificent stadium. Definitely, the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium is very lucky for us,” Harmanpreet stated.
“When you get so much love and encouragement from fans, we want to go out there and win every single game,” stated the ace drag-flicker who scored twice in India’s tense shootout victory towards Australia on Wednesday.
Australia had come to the FIH Pro League with nearly half of the primary XI being rookie gamers who weren’t in the World Cup squad. India additionally both dropped or rested eight gamers from the World Cup team, together with senior gamers like Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh and Nilakanta Sharma.
One of the brand new gamers who shone vibrant was striker Selvam Karthi, who’s now the fourth highest goal-scorer in the FIH Pro League. Others like Sukhjeet Singh and Abhishek, who had been in the World Cup team, additionally did properly.
“There are many positive takeaways for us from this outing here in Rourkela which will hold us in good stead as we prepare for the upcoming Asian Games,” added Harmanpreet, who flopped together with his drag-flick in India’s World Cup marketing campaign.
