The Indian men's hockey team played Australia in the Final of Champions Trophy on late Friday night. The match had just started at the time of the newspaper release.
Earlier, the men's hockey team clinched a historic maiden final appearance in the 36th Hero Champions after hosts Great Britain held Belgium to a 3-3 draw in the final round robin match here.
This will be India's first appearance in the summit clash since the inception of the blue-riband six-nation tournament back in 1978. India will take on might Australia in the gold medal match.
India's only podium finish until now was a bronze medal won way back in 1982 at Amsterdam. In what would be the team's best ever performance in the event, India are assured of at least a silver after making the final.
India would thank Great Britain, who rallied from a two goal deficit to hold Belgium 3-3 in a cliffhanger at the lee Valley Hockey Centre late last evening. This was after India lost 2-4 to title favourites Australia in their last round robin encounter.
The draw between Great Britain and Belgium meant both sides finished behind India in the round-robin league, paving the way for India to play World champions Australia in the Friday's late night title encounter.
Australia topped the league standings with 13 points from five games, while India ended on seven points. Great Britain ended on six points and Belgium were left on four points.
Starting the day's proceedings with a 2-4 loss to top-ranked Australia, the Indian players went through a pensive wait for the result of the last league fixture as both Great Britain and Belgium could have scraped ahead of India.
Britain simply required a victory to go past India on points, while Belgium needed to win by three goals or score at least four in a two-goal victory to finish ahead of India on goal difference.
All three possibilities were within close distance until the last stages, leaving the Indian fans in the stadium on tenterhooks. Even the last British shot at the goal with five seconds left could have taken the hosts into the final, but the ball went a few centimetres wide of the post.
Indian captain Sardar Singh was confident of putting up a good performance in the final.
"Australia has brought their full team to the tournament and a good show against them will make a huge difference to the team's morale in the lead up to the Olympics," said Sardar Singh.