In an amazing display of play, India outclassed China to win their second last game of the league games by 9-0. In the ongoing Asian Hockey Champions Trophy, India kept their hopes of finishing at the top of the group.
Akashdeep Singh, Yousuf Affan and Jasjit Singh Kumar scored two goals each whereas Rupinder Pal Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah and Lalit Upadhyay also made their entries on the scoreboard by scoring one goal each. India next play Malaysia on Wednesday. Both the teams, India and Malaysia are in contention for the top spot in points table of the league games where Malaysia has 9 points from 3 games and India has 10 games from four games. Malaysia has won their last 3 games whereas India drew one of the four games they played.
The game was a tough one for India as the team was without their main goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh. The ankle injury to PR Sreejesh paved way for Akash Chikte to get one full game and he justified his inclusion by defending two penalty shots, as most of the game was otherwise played in the Chinese half.
India got the first success in scoring a goal as early as in 9th minute of the game, when Akashdeep hit the net right from the top of circle with the help of a back-pass. Indians kept hitting the nets thereafter and Chinese team was left with very little to do.