Sreejesh fails to save India from losing 1-2 to Australia

PR Sreejesh

Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh's heroics went in vain as India squandered a goal lead to go down 1-2 to Australia in the third men's hockey Test to hand the home team an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series here on Wednesday.

The Indians, who lost 1-5 and 2-4 in the first two Tests, produced a much-better show on Wednesday with the defensive unit leading from the front.

Also Read: Bopanna-Ebden ousted; Popyrin dumps defending champ Rublev

It was a classic battle between the ever-attacking Australians against the Indian defence, which the latter narrowly lost eventually.

India took the lead through Jugraj Singh's penalty corner conversion in the 41st minute, but Jeremy Hayward (44th and 49th) dashed the visitors' hopes by scoring a brace to hand Australia their third win on the trot. India played cohesively and with a lot more intensity to frustrate the Kookaburras, who secured as many as six penalty corners in the opening quarter but failed to get past the resolute defence of the visitors.

Credit must go to both Indian goalkeepers - Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak - for their brilliant display in the first half. The fourth Test of the series will be played here on Friday.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever