Olympic bronze-medalists India wasted chances galore to lose to world champions Germany in the first hockey match of the two-match series here on Wednesday.Germany, who are reigning Olympic silver-medalists, fielded a strong team for the series. It lived up to the expectations, at least in the first match, with Henrik Mertgens (4th minute) and skipper Lukas Windfeder (30th) scoring the winning goals.There was great excitement surrounding the series as international hockey was returning to the national capital for the first time after 2014.The Major Dhyan Chand Stadium witnessed a good turnout but the fans had to return disappointed as home team’s ever-reliable skipper and star drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh endured a rare off day. The second Test of the series will be played on Thursday.The Indians were slow off the blocks as Germany dominated the exchanges in the first quarter. The two teams were clashing for the first time after Germany beat India in the Paris Olympics semifinal. It took only four minutes for the visitors to take the lead, courtesy some poor defending from the Indians. Mertgens was quick to spot the opportunity and slammed home the ball for the early edge..Pant likely to keep in Pune TestIndia’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate revealed that Rishabh Pant is mostly likely going to reprise his role as the wicketkeeper during the second Test against New Zealand here. Pant did not ‘keep for most of the match after he was struck on his operated (left) knee during the opening Test in Bengaluru last week. He did come out to bat and made a stellar 99 in the second innings, but you could tell he was still hurting every so often. “Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharma) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he’ll be good to keep in the Test as well,” he said. Another update worth paying attention to was the inclusion of Washington Sundar to the squad after the Bengaluru Test. Ten Doeschate unveiled the management’s motive. “They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It’s also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well. We just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for conditions here, and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.
Olympic bronze-medalists India wasted chances galore to lose to world champions Germany in the first hockey match of the two-match series here on Wednesday.Germany, who are reigning Olympic silver-medalists, fielded a strong team for the series. It lived up to the expectations, at least in the first match, with Henrik Mertgens (4th minute) and skipper Lukas Windfeder (30th) scoring the winning goals.There was great excitement surrounding the series as international hockey was returning to the national capital for the first time after 2014.The Major Dhyan Chand Stadium witnessed a good turnout but the fans had to return disappointed as home team’s ever-reliable skipper and star drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh endured a rare off day. The second Test of the series will be played on Thursday.The Indians were slow off the blocks as Germany dominated the exchanges in the first quarter. The two teams were clashing for the first time after Germany beat India in the Paris Olympics semifinal. It took only four minutes for the visitors to take the lead, courtesy some poor defending from the Indians. Mertgens was quick to spot the opportunity and slammed home the ball for the early edge..Pant likely to keep in Pune TestIndia’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate revealed that Rishabh Pant is mostly likely going to reprise his role as the wicketkeeper during the second Test against New Zealand here. Pant did not ‘keep for most of the match after he was struck on his operated (left) knee during the opening Test in Bengaluru last week. He did come out to bat and made a stellar 99 in the second innings, but you could tell he was still hurting every so often. “Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharma) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he’ll be good to keep in the Test as well,” he said. Another update worth paying attention to was the inclusion of Washington Sundar to the squad after the Bengaluru Test. Ten Doeschate unveiled the management’s motive. “They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It’s also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well. We just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for conditions here, and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.
