New Delhi: In the cross-over match of the Hockey World Cup 2023 played at the Kalinga Stadium, the Indian team had to face defeat after a neck-and-neck collision. During the entire match, Team India has seen in a strong position in the match but in the end, the Kiwis won. In the shootout, the New Zealand team won the match 4-5. With this defeat, the Indian team is out of the Hockey World Cup 2023, while New Zealand has confirmed its place in the quarter-finals. The match ended in a 3-3 draw. After which the result was to come through the penalty shootout.
Earlier, India had defeated Spain in their last match. Because of this, he stood second in Group D. The England team was first in the points table of the group and got a place in the direct quarter-finals. India had a way to reach the quarter-finals only through the cross-over match.
Talking about today’s match, during the shootout, the New Zealand team maintained a good hold from the beginning. Till 2-2, both the teams were running on par in the shootout. From here India missed a change. The Kiwi team took advantage of just this. The Indian hockey team’s effort from here was to somehow make the visiting team miss a chance and score goals on all their chances. Despite New Zealand having an extra chance, India reached 4-4 in the shootout, but it was because of missing this one chance that the visiting team defeated India 5-4 in the shootout.
The Indian hockey team had kept a hold on the match from the beginning, but as the match reached its final stage, New Zealand made a comeback. At one point in the first half, India had a 2-0 lead. From here we gave New Zealand a chance to come back. Lalit Upadhyay (17th minute), Sukhjit Singh (24th), and Varun Kumar (40th) scored for India. Sam Lane (28th) scored a field goal for New Zealand, while Ken Russell (43rd) and Sean Findlay (49th) converted a penalty corner. In the quarter-finals, New Zealand will now face the current world champion Belgium.
