India have been knocked out of Men's Hockey World Cup on Sunday (January 22) after going down to New Zealand 4-5 in penalty shootouts. Hosts India and lower ranked Black Sticks were tied 3-3 after the regulation time in a crossover match at the Kalinga Stadium.
Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made three terrific saves but was replaced by and Krishan Pathak after getting injured during the process. Pathak too made a crucial save but Shamsher failed to dodge the New Zealand goalkeeper, which was his third attempt. India, ranked sixth in the world, produced a below-par performance, allowing New Zealand to claw back into the match after taking a 2-0 lead in the first half. India scored through Lalit Upadhyay (17th minute), Sukhjeet Singh (24th) and Varun Kumar (40th).
New Zealand replied through Sam Lane (28th) and two penalty-corner conversions by Kane Russell (43rd) and Sean Findlay (49th).
The match saw India dominate possession and circle penetration but the hosts endured quite a few nervy moments. The action started with both sides showing high intensity as New Zealand came very close to scoring in the opening quarter. However, a brilliant save by Sreejesh denied the visitors from breaking the deadlock as the first quarter ended goalless.
India put a much stronger show in the second quarter as Lalit Kumar Upadhyay scored the opener inside the first three minutes. India were then awarded a penalty corner with a little over six minutes remaining in the quarter. The setpiece saw hosts find the back of the net but the goal was disallowed following a referral by New Zealand.
India's dominance continued and shortly after they were awarded back-to-back penalty corners, which also saw the hosts double their lead after Abhishek scored on the rebound by the New Zealand goalkeeper.
However, with just one minute remaining in the quarter Lane brought some respite in the New Zealand camp as he scored their opening goal.
Varun Kumar then helped India restore their two-goal lead, converting a penalty corner. However, New Zealand once again bounced back in similar fashion as Kane Russell scored their second goal in the dying moments of the third quarter.
The final quarter saw New Zealand score the equaliser with Sean Findlay making an important deflection near the post following a penalty corner. New Zealand came close to taking a lead after Jarmanpreet's pass was deflected, which found a New Zealand player in an open position. However, his attempt was brilliantly saved by Pathak.
In the penalty shootout, the scores were also tied after the first five set of strikes, and the match was finally decided via sudden death.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh had the golden chance to take India to victory in sudden death but he failed to do that as he missed the target.
Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made two saves in the shootout to rescue India after they were 2-3 down. He saved another one during the sudden death and got himself injured and Krishan Pathak replaced him in the next three rounds of strikes. Finally, Shamsher Singh missed and Sam Lane scored to hand New Zealand the win.
New Zealand will now take on reigning world champions Belgium in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
