When the Indian men paved their way in a splendid fight
against South Africa
to register a 5-2 victory, they secured their stop for the semi finals of the
tournament. India is now set
to clash with higher ranked New Zealand and will attempt to
take a leap into the finals.
With the 6th rank in the world, New
Zealand will be using their ‘experience’ against India , as 7 out
of 16 players in their squad have more than 150 international caps to
their credit. On the contrary, India
has proven to be a well-balanced team in the tournament with a fair combination
of experienced and young players. It will be New Zealand’s penalty
corner specialist Andy Hayward that team India will have to watch out for
and avoid giving away penalty corner opportunities. India ’s reply
to Andy Hayward will be Rupinder Pal Singh, who has performed
consistently in the tournament with 5 successful penalty corners and 2
field goals, making a total of 7 goals to his credit.
Heading back to the 1998 Commonwealth Games’ clash between
India and New Zealand, India defeated New Zealand 3-1, while in the 2006
Commonwealth Games, both these teams played for 5th/6th spot, where
New Zealand managed to slide past India by 2-1 and claimed the 5th
position. Though, in 2010 Commonwealth Games the two teams did not
face each other in the entire tournament, India made their way into the
finals with Australia and bagged the second spot and New Zealand
settled for the third position in the tournament.
Speaking on the match tomorrow, Chief Coach Terry Walsh
said, “We now move into the second phase of the tournament - the
crossovers. Unfortunately we will play New Zealand New Zealand
HI Press release
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