Indian Army beats Maharashtra to keep its chances alive; Indian Navy sinks CBDT
Its forwards haven't stepped up to a great extent, though the defence has been saving grace. To be fair, it has played well within its limitations.
Requiring a victory to stay alive in the competition, Army huffed and puffed to a 2-1 win over Maharashtra in a Pool-A contest at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Wednesday.
Army will make it to the playoffs provided SAI-NCOE (Bhopal) loses or draws with defending champion and table-topper Indian Railways on Thursday. NCOE will enter the semifinals in place of Army if the former defeats Railways. Meanwhile, host Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu has been knocked out.
Later, in a Pool-B tie, Indian Navy impressed with a 4-1 victory over Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), thanks to a brace each by Selvaraj and Ajinkya Jadhav.
Navy, which has entered the last four with three straight wins, will take on former champion IOC in its last group match to decide the group topper.
After a drab goalless first quarter, Maharashtra opened the scoring in the second through a penalty corner strike by Ganesh Patil.
Within few minutes, Army equalised through a strong counter-attack from the left flank. A swipe by Mohd. Alishan from the backline found Pradeep Singh Bisht, who deftly deflected it home.
Maharashtra returned stronger in the third quarter with attacks that rattled the Army defence. First, Arjun Hargude's strike from the top of the circle saw Army 'keeper Senthamizh Arasu come up with a fine save. A few minutes later, a withering backhander by Taleb Shah missed the post by a whisker.
With seven minutes remaining for the hooter, Army found the winner when Niraj Kumar Singh took a little time before unleashing a reverse hit after receiving a pass from Rajant Singh.
The results: Pool-A: Indian Army 2 (Pradeep Singh Bisht 29, Niraj Kumar Singh 53) bt Maharashtra 1 (Ganesh Patil 21).
B: Indian Navy 4 (Ajinkya Jadhav 17 & 35, K. Selvaraj 33 & 36) bt CBDT 1 (Mehkeet Singh 33).
Malaysian National junior team 3 (Azimuddin Shakir 29, Muhd. Handzalah 47, Muhd. Adam Asyraf 59) drew with Karnataka 3 (N.M Surya 7, Bhrath Mahalingppa 18 & 32).
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