FIH Pro League: India Kickstart Their Campaign On High, Beat England By 3-2

India women's thrashed England women by 3-2 in their campaign opener of the FIH Pro Hockey Pro League at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.

Bhuvaneshwar: India women's hockey team kickstarted their FIH Hockey Pro League on a positive note by defeating England 3-2 at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday, February 15.

The FIH Pro League 2024-25 serves as a qualifying event for the 2026 men’s and women’s Hockey World Cups. The top-ranked team at the end of the season, not already qualified as a host or through the Pro League 2023-24, will earn a World Cup berth.

Two of India's goals came from penalty corners with Vaishnavi Phalke scoring the opener in the sixth minute and Deepika smashing the winner in the 25th, while Navneet Kaur smashed the winning goal with just one minute left in the game.

For England, Darcy Bourne took advantage of a huge defensive lapse to slot home the first equaliser in the 12th minute and then Fiona Crackles (58th) levelled things again before Navneet slotted home the winner a minute later.

England found an equalizer in the wee hours, with only two minutes remaining on the clock, hoping to take the game into a shoot-out. However, their dream was cut short by Navneet Kaur, scoring India's third goal in the very next minute, helping India to win all three points from the match.

Coming to the match front, Vaishnavi opened the account from India with a firmly-struck shot from Manisha Chauhan off the first penalty corner hit a defender's stick and came back into play. Vaishnavi was perfectly placed to decisively hit the ball into the net.

India looked confident and showed the intent to ruffle the seventh-ranked England with pace and short passes. They came close to doubling the lead in the ninth minute but veteran forward Lalremsiami failed to connect her stick with a long, diagonal cross.

However, quite against the run of play, England struck when a sloppy clearance by defender Ishika Chaudhary saw Darcy just push the ball straight into the goal from close to bring the equaliser.

A minute later, goalkeeper Savita Punia bravely saved a firmly-hit reverse flick from crashing into the net with just two minutes in the first quarter, leaving India coach Harendra Singh in a sport of bother.

A pep-talk from the former India player at the break, saw India settle into a rhythm and enter the turf with more purpose as Deepika converted the hosts' second penalty corner with a rasping shot to give her team the lead again.

The third quarter was a sedate affair with the play mostly confined to the midfield, but England showed tremendous improvement in the last 15 minutes, earning three quick penalty corners to rattle the Indian defence. But wayward shooting saw the 2022 Commonwealth Games champions ending up on the losing side.

Fiona made it 2-2 with just two minutes remaining on the clock as the game headed towards a draw but Navneet came up with a goal on the counter-attack to lead India to victory. (With agency inputs)