India beats England 5-4 in penalty shootout in Commonwealth Games’ hockey semi-final match

NEW DELHI - In a nerve-wracking match, India beat England 5-4 in penalty shootout in the Men’s Hockey semi-final clash here on Tuesday to enter final.

India will take on defending champion Australia in the final match.

During the match today, India rallied from a two-goal deficit to level 3-3 in regulation time. Striker Tushar Khandkar twice came close to scoring the golden goal during extra time but England goalkeeper James Fair stood firm under the bar.

Ace penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh’s shot off a penalty corner also went wide during the first half of extra time.

For England, Ashley Jackson scored twice off the penalty corners — on either side of the halftime-and also hit the upright off the fourth to miss a hat-trick. Simon Mantell’s powerful drag flick off an indirect penalty corner also went into the net as England led 3-1.

But India surged back through Vikram Pillay and Saravanjit Singh’s deflection and made numerous attacks in the last five minutes but could not get the match winner.

Saravanjit Singh had shot India ahead off the only first-half short corner in the 19th minute when Dhananjay Mahadik’s push was stopped by Fair, but gave enough time to Saravanjit to dab the ball in.

It was nerve-wrecking match in which India and England leveled score at 3-3. But in the extended time of the match India won the game by penalty shootout with 5-4 score.

A large crowd of 19,000 supporters went wild and gave the team a standing ovation when goalkeeper Bharat Kumar stopped Glenn Kirkham’s third penalty stroke and Shivendra Kumar netted the final one.

Indian hockey team assured its fans of first ever hockey medal at CWG, as they received ovation from its jubilant fans in the stadium. (ANI)