Women's FIH Pro League: 3 Things India Need To Worry About After Back-To-Back Defeats

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The Indian women's hockey team has suffered back-to-back defeats in the home leg of the Women's FIH Pro League 2023-24 in Bhubaneswar. This included a disappointing 1-3 loss to Netherlands after going down 0-1 to China in the opening game.

India made some promises through Sunelita Toppo in the loss to the Netherlands as she led the counterattack for India after tackling the Dutch in their half. She went down the right wing and found Navneet Kaur at the top of the shooting circle.

The forward struck a thunderous goal to bring her side level on terms in the first quarter. However, the joy was short-lived as the Dutch ruled the roost from that point on as India's disappointment of Olympic qualifiers' failure never ceases to end. Here are three things that let India down before they face Australia on February 7 in the Women's FIH Pro League.

1. Weak Defense

Savita Punia was tested right from the word go as the Dutch attempted to mount pressure with early goals but the Indian skipper denied them twice in the opening minute. However, there were moments when even Savita was caught off the guard. Interestingly, at least three goals were saved by the goalpost.

Though India positioned well around the ferocious attack but enough spaces were opened for the Dutch to enter the circle. Gurjit Kaur wasn't at her best and that allowed Jansen to score her second goal of the night and put Dutch in a commanding position.

2. Slow counterattacks

India did pounced on interceptions, which won them their first goal. But the Women in Blue couldn't match the speed of their Dutch counterparts. The Indian team missed the scoring opportunities even in the presence of just two Dutch defenders in contrast to three attackers.

3. Penalty corners wastage

India's failure in penalty corner conversion continued to haunt them after they missed six chances on Sunday. Meanwhile, Netherlands struck twice from the same number of penalty corners earned in the 60-minute match.