Image credit: Hockey India
The five-time champions began their title defence with a big win over Bangladesh and will be keen to maintain their momentum against a young Chinese side. The match was largely played in Bangladesh’s half, with India controlling the contest. India’s ability to score from both field play and penalty corners was an encouraging sign While Bangladesh were not expected to pose a major challenge.
India will look to build on their strong start to the Asian Champions Trophy when they face China in their second round-robin match on Thursday.
India will face a less familiar opponent in China, who pushed Asian Games silver medallists Malaysia hard before going down 4-5 in their opening match. Because of a calf muscle injury, india had to manage without midfielder Manpreet Singh, who has been ruled out of the tournament. Veteran forward Mandeep Singh was among the standout performers, scoring a hat-trick. His return to form comes at an important time, with national selectors expected to assess the players after the tournament. Apart from Mandeep’s three goals, captain Harmanpreet, Dilpreet Singh and vice-captain Hardik Singh scored twice each. Shilanand Lakra, Nilakanta and Jugraj Singh also got on the scoresheet. Hardik, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Nilakanta took charge of the midfield against Bangladesh and combined well with the forwards.
The Harmanpreet Singh-led side scored eight field goals and five goals from set pieces against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
We will have to analyse video footage of their match to get a fair idea about them,” Fulton said. “This Chinese team is unknown to us, as they have come here with a completely new group, not the one that played at the Asian Games. We don’t know much about them and haven’t seen them play.