India Captain Harmanpreet Singh claims 'Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium is lucky for us'

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Rourkela, March 16: Indian men's hockey team defeated Australia twice in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2022-23 home leg and kept their unbeaten run at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium alive.

Team India defeated reigning World Champions Germany 3-2 and 6-3 and followed it up with a 5-4 and 2-2 (4-3 SO) win against Australia in the four games held in Rourkela.

Happy with his team's superlative effort in the league, India captain Harmanpreet Singh claimed that the venue is indeed 'lucky' for his team.

"We are happy to keep our record intact here in Rourkela. We haven't lost a single match here in this magnificent stadium. Definitely, the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium is very lucky for us. When you get so much love and encouragement from fans, we want to go out there and win every single game," stated the ace drag-flicker who scored twice in India's tense shootout victory on Wednesday.

India's outstanding feat in Rourkela, Odisha has put them on top of the pool standing in the FIH Hockey Pro League. The team now leads the chart with 19 points from eight matches.

India are ahead of Spain (17 points from eight games), followed by Argentina - who are sitting in third position with 13 points from 12 games. Reigning World Champions Germany have been pushed to no.4 in the pool standing with 11 points after 8 matches.

India climb to fourth in FIH World Ranking

The result has also helped India climb up the FIH World Ranking, having beaten teams ranked higher than them. Ahead of this year's Pro League outing, India were ranked no.6 when they started their campaign at home, while Germany were ranked No.1 and Australia ranked No.4.

The Indian side is now ranked 4th in the world behind reigning World Champions Germany, which have dropped to 3rd in the recently updated FIH world ranking.

"I think these things (world ranking) don't matter to us so much. We don't keep this in mind when we play. Our only priority was to convert our chances and keep the pressure on the opponent. Some of the youngsters who got an opportunity to show their talent also stood up to the occasion and did very well for themselves as well as the team", said Harmanpreet.

Harmanpreet also happens to be the leading goal-scorer in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2022-2023 with 11 goals, ahead of Belgium's Alexander Hendrickx with six goals.

Adding to the team's options in the forward line in a crucial year with Olympic qualification at stake, Selvam Karthi and Sukhjeet's performance has been noteworthy. Karthi is now the fourth-highest goal-scorer in the FIH Hockey Pro League while Sukhjeet and Abhishek are 7th and 8th leading scorers respectively.

"There are many positive takeaways for us from this outing here in Rourkela which will hold us in good stead as we prepare for the upcoming Asian Games," added Harmanpreet.

Another big factor that contributed to the team's success in these matches in Rourkela was the team's improved on-field communication and decisive video referrals, including the crucial one taken by goalkeeper Sreejesh during the penalty shootout.

"Yes, the referral taken by Sreejesh was absolutely critical to our win. He has years of experience and understands the updated rules of the game but even some of the other video referrals by our team in crucial moments of the match were very important, this is something we work on even in our training. On-field communication was also much better this time, and we will continue to build on this," signed off Harmanpreet Singh.

The Indian Men's Hockey Team will travel to New Delhi from Rourkela today for the prestigious 5th Hockey India Annual Awards scheduled to be held on March 17 following which the team will get a two-week break before they reassemble in the National Coaching Camp.

(Hockey India)