Delhi Waveriders defeated Kalinga lancers fair and square to register a 5-0 win in a Hero Hockey India league match played at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, here on Thursday.
With the result, Delhi team would be relieved to be home and winning while for the debutants lancers, this defeat is their second in a row. For Delhi, Rupinderpal Singh showed how much he has improved over the last one year as he scored two goals with his lethal drag-flciking while also being equally stubborn as a defender to keep his opponents at bay. Right from the first minute of the match, Delhi looked threatening and managed to take the ball to the opponents’ end almost every minute. And, at the back, they were well coordinated to fend off every challenge the lancers posed.
Skipper Sardar Singh played his role of a defensive mid-fielder to perfection and never allowed the rival forwards to go through him. He found able support from Gurbaj Singh and Andres Mir Biel and the trio formed a fantastic supply line for the strikers. Cohesive as the hosts were, the strikers also didn’t disappoint, earning penalty corners for Rupinder, who was brilliant on the foggy night.
In the 12th minute, Timothy Drummond smartly played to the legs of Mandeep Antil to earn the first short corner, which was successfully executed to the left of Kalinga goalkeeper Tristian Clemons to make it 1-0. later, in a quick counter-attack, Australian Matt Gohdes received a long ball and dodged couple of defenders to sound the board second time for Delhi. Hosts dominance continued and soon Rupinder made it 3-0 with a well-taken short corner to help his team take a big lead in the 29th minute.
Indian national team head coach Terry Walsh’ Kalinga lancers too got a couple of penalty corners but the first one was hit wide by Gonzalo Peillat and the second one was not stopped properly. Kalinga’s Australian forward Russel Ford was impressively creative but his tricks were not met on more than two occasions. Another forward lucas Villa of Argentina, who didn’t had a good outing at the Hockey world league Final played at this ground two weeks ago, was again far from his best. Visiting side’s domestic strikers — lalit Upadhay and Gagandeep Singh were off-colour and they hardly made a move inside the rival D area. Delhi punished Kalinga further with two more goals. Man-of the match Gurbaj Singh orchestrated fourth goal by slicing through three defenders and pushed the ball to an unmarked Danish Mujtaba to score in the 48th minute.
Delhi face Punjab
Waveriders may have registered an easy win on Thursday but they have a lot to worry about their next opponent — Jaypee Punjab Warriors, who are coming to the match with two back-to-back wins. In four matches played between the two teams in HIl, Punjab, despite boasting of some of the biggest names of modern world hockey, have never managed to beat the inaugural edition’s runners-up Delhi. The likes of Jamie Dwyer, Kieran Govers, Mark Knowles, Sandeep Singh, SV Sunil, lucas Rey are capable enough to turn the heat any time and for that Delhi need to be vigilant.