The Indian men's hockey team couldn't keep up their winning momentum in the FIH Pro League as they suffered a 3-1 loss against Great Britain in London on Sunday.
Two strikes from Nicholas Bandurak in the first quarter and Will Calnan's goal in the final quarter did the job for Great Britain. Abhishek scored the only goal for India.
After back-to-back wins against Argentina and Germany, Craig Fulton's India hoped for a hat trick of wins, but they did not start well on Sunday. Bandurak's first goal was a simple tap in in the second minute of the match and the next one came after a brilliant play from the defence in the 11th minute. Lovely one touch hockey resulted in the ball to Bandurak who turned and executed a brilliant finish from the centre of the circle.
Inda failed to create clear-cut chances despite doing all the hard work on the ball and with their pressing. Abhishek was India's best player on the pitch but there was no big support for him. Meanwhile, Britain kept playing their attacking and tested PR Sreejesh with a couple of solid efforts from penalty corners.
Eventually, India pulled one back thanks to Abhishek. He received the pass from Harmanpreet Singh, turned and made space before unleashing the reverse hit. Britain goalkeeper James Mazarelo came up with a couple of good saves in the match but there was no chance he was stopping this hit from Abhishek.
India improved after scoring the goal but still didn't do enough to come up with good scoring opportunities. Calnan scored the crucial third goal for Britain in the 47th minute, another good control and finish right on top of the shooting circle.
The hosts held on to their lead and clinched the victory.
India will be back in action in the next weekend to play their final two matches in the season's FIH Pro League.
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