The hockey title match with Australia today: Men's hockey team has not won gold in Commonwealth Games so far, a chance to create history

The Indian men's hockey team will play the final match against Australia at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games today. The match will start at 5 pm. The Indian team will now enter this match with 17 players. There will be rotation among these 17 players and 11 players will be on the field at a time. Indian midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad has been injured. He has been advised to rest for 4 weeks.

Team India defeated South Africa 3-2 in the semi-finals. The Indian team has reached the final of the Commonwealth Games for the third time. Australia defeated England 3-2 in the second semi-final and booked a ticket to the final.

India reached the men's hockey finals in 2010 and 2014

The Indian men's hockey team reached the finals of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Then Australia defeated India in the gold medal match. Under the leadership of Manpreet Singh, the Indian team has shown a great game so far. The team has been unbeaten in this tournament so far.

In the first match, India defeated Ghana 11-0. At the same time, in the second match, the team played a 4-4 draw against England. India won the third match 4-1 against Wales. In the semi-final, India defeated South Africa 3-2. Team India was number one in its group (Pool-B).

first quarter game

India did well in the first quarter. However, the team could not capitalize on the chances they got to score. The Indian team scored four penalty corners in the first quarter. However, the team could not score on any occasion. At the same time, South Africa tried to enter the Indian circle twice, but the Indian defenders prevented them from scoring. Neither team could score in the first quarter.

second quarter game

In the second quarter, the Indian team continued the counterattack. India's Abhishek scored a brilliant goal in the 20th minute and gave Team India a 1-0 lead. Mandeep then scored in the 28th minute to take India's lead to two goals. By half-time, India had taken a 2-0 lead over South Africa.

third quarter game

South Africa made a comeback in the third quarter. Ryan Julius scored in the 33rd minute and made the score 2-1. The Indian players lost their confidence in the third quarter and made fewer counterattacks. South Africa took advantage of this and scored the goal.

fourth quarter game

After getting guidance from the two senior players, the Indian players played brilliantly in the fourth quarter and continued to counterattack. In the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, South Africa removed the goalkeeper and sent an extra player to the field. The Indian team got the advantage in the 58th minute. India secured a penalty corner.

On this, Jugraj Singh took the ball to the defending South Africa's goal post without a goalkeeper and put India ahead 3-1. However, South Africa's Qasim Mustafa scored 3-2 in the last minute. After that both, both teams could not score any goal. In this way, the Indian team won.

India would like to end Australian dominance

The Indian men's hockey team will take to the field to win the first gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. India, led by skipper Manpreet, won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year after 41 years. This time the team would be looking to end the Australian dominance in the Commonwealth Games under Manpreet. Australia has so far won all six gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.

The Indian team, which failed to win a medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, would like to forget the past failure. Under the guidance of Australian resident head coach Graham Reid, the Indian team has improved a lot over the years. All the hockey fans are expecting a gold medal from the team.

Also Read: Hockey players clashed in Commonwealth Games: Angered by a stick, one player grabbed another's throat, and pulled T-shirt; The referee kicked off the field