Sudeep Chirmako (R) celebrates with his teammates. (PHOTO: HIL)
In what has been a largely closely-contested tournament in the early stages, Soorma Hockey Club suffered a significant defeat – the first team to lose a match by three goals in the men’s Hockey India League in Rourkela. UP Rudras, along with Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers, made it two wins out of two, to put down a strong early marker by scoring six goals across their two matches. Sudeep Chirmako (2’), Jobanpreet Singh (38’) and Akashdeep Singh (58’) were on the scoresheet for Rudras on Thursday, in an impressive all-round performance driven by their captain Hardik Singh in the midfield.
It was a rare off night for India captain Harmanpreet Singh as he was thwarted over and over by Rudras’ penalty corner defence, especially by the immaculate first-rushing of Dutch star Lars Balk. On the day he was confirmed as a nominee for India’s highest sporting honour – Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award – Harmanpreet was left disappointed on the field as he missed a series of penalty corner opportunities in a 0-3 defeat for his side.
On the flip side, two-time Junior World Cupper Chirmako had another solid game for the Rudras. Having already scored in the opener, he scored again and assisted one on Thursday night.
The local lad from Odisha put Rudras in the lead early after good 3-D skills from Sunil Jojo down the left byline opened up the Soorma defence. A rebound fell to Sudeep a few yards in front of goal but he still had a lot to do to beat the Belgian legend Vincent Vanasch. But the 21-year-old took a first touch with his back to goal and powered a quickfire forehand shot on the turn, leaving goalkeeper Vanasch with no time to react just with the sheer pace he managed to impart. After scoring the first, Chirmako set up the second. He controlled a crossfield aerial ball inside the circle, took his time to scan his options, dribbled in and played a clever reverse pass into the middle from where Jobanpreet poked it in.
The third goal came deep into the fourth quarter when Soorma had taken their goalkeeper off in a desperate search for a way back into the match. Hardik, who was the heartbeat for Rudras in the middle of the park, launched a counterattack and found Akashdeep in space who had the simplest of chances to fire a backhand shot into an empty net.
Soorma upped the tempo in the second quarter and forced plenty of short corners. Harmanpreet was not on the field for the first two PCs and Soorma wasted both. Jeremy Hayward couldn’t apply the force for the first one, but the second one was not trapped properly and Nicolas Della Torre couldn’t get a shot away quickly enough.
But the Soorma captain lined up for a series of PCs with 9 minutes to go in Q2. Retake, another retake, another retake (the third one saved sharply by James Mazarelo)… then Harmanpreet tried to go for brute force, higher up the target, and the ball flew wide. While UP coach Paul van Ass started the night saying the key to winning would be not to concede too many PCs, his team’s defence was on point. Soorma perhaps paid the price for not trying too many variations.
They did have a chance to pull things back through a lively Pawan Rajbhar towards the end of Q2. Nicolas Keenan made a driving run down the left, and hit a powerful reverse-hit pass into the circle but Pawan’s diving deflection went just wide.
The match, perhaps fittingly, ended with a couple of penalty corners for Soorma that Harmanpreet couldn’t convert. The first attempt was rushed well again by Balk, and the second attempt went wide as the match wound down. Harmanpreet – who has reportedly been laid low by an illness at the start of the tournament – puffed his cheeks out, shook his head in frustration, and had a forlorn look as he received a pat on the back from his deputy Vivek Sagar Prasad. It just wasn’t to be for him and Soorma, but if they continue to create these many chances in subsequent matches, Harmanpreet – and the likes of Hayward too – should be in business soon.
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