Champions Trophy Hockey 2018: India draw with Netherlands to set-up final clash with Australia

Breda: Indian men’s hockey team forced a 1-1 draw against hosts Netherlands in their last league match to set up the Champions Trophy summit clash with world number one Australia in Breda on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_4638761” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PR Sreejesh (centre) was rock solid against Netherlands on Saturday. Image courtesy: Hockey India[/caption] After three goal-less quarters, forward Mandeep Singh put India ahead with his strike in the 47th minute off rebound from Harmanpreet’s drag-flick. Eighth minutes later, the hosts pulled one back with Thierry Brinkman finding the net from a shot from close-range. In the last minutes of the fourth quarter, Netherlands looked lethal again, having converted many chances as well as penalties but India’s defence was rock solid, especially goalkeeper and captain PR Sreejesh, who stopped almost everything on Saturday. India needed only a draw to qualify for Sunday’s final and they have done that. Not to forget that Australia are world champions and they also beat India in the last match the two sides played against each other. That makes the Sunday’s final even more exciting and huge awaited as India will have a huge task cut out.