It’s a coincidence that the home game of Ranchi Rhinos against Delhi Waveriders had ended 1-0 in favour of the hosts and in their away game against the same opponents, the scoreline didn’t change but the verdict did.
So, with Delhi Waveriders beating the Rhinos at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here, the coincidence would mean that last year’s finalists are equally matched. Therefore, everything this year is scratched out.
On Wednesday, Akashdeep Singh’s solitary goal was the only difference between the two sides.
With the fourth consecutive win, Delhi boosted their chances of finishing as table-toppers by taking their points tally to 34 with only one game remaining, that they would play against Dabur Mumbai Magicians on Saturday. Ranchi, on the other hand, are third with 24 points from seven matches.
The match started on a positive note for both teams as they matched each other and didn’t allow vacant spaces made use of. They tried to wear each other down by several raids from both sides.
Among the team battle, the war between world’s two best centre-halfs — Moritz Furste for Ranchi and Sardar Singh for the hosts — was equally intriguing. While the FIH Player of the Year 2012, German maestro managed to have his way at times, the Indian skipper also rose up to the challenge.
Ranchi’s Spanish goalkeeper Francisco Cortes was called into action early to save a Jason Wilson hit from close range in the ninth minute of the game as Delhi replied to the visiting team’s flair with equal might and pressed for more incursions into the circle.
A brilliant counter-attack earned a penalty corner for Ranchi but the ball was not stopped properly, making it difficult for Justin Reid-Ross to flick it at the end minute of the second quarter and similarly in the 47th minute also, South African Reid-Ross wasted another short corner which had been earned by Floris Evers.
Indian junior team head coach Gregg Clarke’ s Ranchi missed their English drag-flicker exponent Ashley Jackson, who is yet to recover from an ankle injury he had sustained during their last match against Mumbai Magicians.
Delhi also missed an opportunity on a penalty corner by Rupinderpal Singh, whose hit was off target.
later in the fourth quarter, Rupinder ran into the rival ‘D’ and after falling short of space, passed it to an unmarked Akashdeep Singh whose shot managed to beat Cortes in the 65th minute to trigger wild celebrations among the crowd, which can be estimated to be around 10,000. Ranchi tried their best in the final minutes, including a short corner but the no rewards came their way.