It was a mixed day for the Indian hockey team in Raipur, where they managed to beat No. 1-ranked Australia 3-2 in the third and final Test with a last-minute goal from Akashdeep Singh, but lost the series that was decided via a shootout, which ended 3-2 in Australia's favour.
Australia were left stunned when Akashdeep netted a goal with 8 minutes left on the clock, but the smiles returned on the visitors' faces as they prevailed in the shootout where VR Raghunath, Akashdeep Singh and captain Sardar Singh failed to score.
That gave Australia the series, which had ended 1-1 after India's win on Monday and Australia's 2-1 victory in the first match. The second Test had ended in a 2-2 draw.
Earlier, Raghunath and Rupinderpal Singh scored off penalty corners before Mike Whetton scored his second goal of the match to bring the Aussies level in the fourth quarter.
As per the rules for this series, the series winner had to be decided by penalty shoot-out which was won by the visitors.
Daniel Beale, Matt Gohdes and Chris Ciriello converted their attempts for Australia while Birender Lakra was the only Indian to convert his attempt. Raghunath scored from a penalty stroke after Amir Khan was fouled by Australian goalkeeper Tristan Clemons.
Dharamvir Singh, who took India's final attempt, was also fouled by Clemons. Raghunath stepped up to take the penalty stroke but the dragflicker denied him the opportunity to score and clinched the series for Australia.
Earlier, Australia made an attacking start and earned a penalty corner in the first minute but the effort was fired wide by Ciriello.
India struggled to cope with the frequent Australian attacks and took time to find their feet. It was not until the 11th minute that the Indians had their first chance when SV Sunil managed to shake off his marker before connecting a cross from Akashdeep Singh but it was inches wide of the far post.
The Australians had two scoring chances in the last minute of the first quarter but Sreejesh made some brilliant saves to deny them any chances of scoring. India were given their first penalty corner early in the second quarter and Raghunath beat the Australian defence with a powerful shot to give India the lead.
India were ahead in the game but the Aussies continued with their attacking style. Sreejesh made few more acrobatic saves and got a good support from his defenders as India went into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead.
Australia opened their account as Trent Mitton snatched the ball from Birender Lakra just outside the penalty area and deceived Sreejesh to level the score. India earned their second penalty corner off a counter-attack and Rupinder beat the Australian goalkeeper with a powerful dragflick.
Australia earned back to back penalty corners in the 52nd minute but Raghunath made superb blocks on both occasions. In the very next minute Mitton scored his second to level the score once again but India found their third goal as Akashdeep made an excellent finish on a long pass with just 10 seconds to go.
(With inputs from IANS)
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