India knocked out of Hockey World Cup after losing 4-5 to New Zealand in shootout

India has been knocked out of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup after missing a plethora of chances to allow New Zealand to come back and beat them 4-5 in the shoot-out in their Crossover stage match at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar, on Sunday.

India had a 2-0 lead just before half-time but they allowed New Zealand to score a late goal to make it 2-1 at half-time with their missed chances. On resumption, the Indians extended the lead to 3-1 but poor marking in the circle and basic error while defending allowed New Zealand to score two quick goals to end the match 3-3 in regulation time.

𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝟑-𝟑 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐙𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝐒𝐎: 𝟒-𝟓)

New Zealand complete 2nd half come-back and a tight shoot-out goes to the 18th attempt, where New Zealand prevail to move to the quarterfinals! #HWC2023

📱- Download the @watchdothockey app for all updates pic.twitter.com/TNHT2ZrN7X

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) January 22, 2023

Lalit Upadhyay (17th min), Sukhjeet Singh (24th min) and Varun Kumar (40th min) scored for India in regulation time while Sam Lane (28th min), Kane Russell (43rd min) and Sean Findlay (49th min) scored for the Black Sticks.

India’s veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh then pulled off three successful saves to give India the advantage and Sukhjeet Singh converted the fifth attempt under tremendous pressure as the shoot-out ended 3-3.

Goalkeeper Kishan Pathak who came in for the injured Sreejesh thwarted Hayden Phillips but Sukhjeet failed to convert as India lost another opportunity to seal the win.

Sam Lane then scored for the Black Sticks with an easy attempt past Pathak to make it 5-4 for New Zealand. At 5-4, Shamsher Singh failed to score while trying to save the game for his side as India got defeated from the jaws of victory.

New Zealand are now all set for a quarterfinal clash with Belgium while India will now move to Rourkela for the playoff matches for the 9-16 spots.