The Indian men’s hockey team will face Australia in the final of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 on Monday.
The phenomenal success at the Tokyo Olympics has ignited hopes of the in-form Indian men’s hockey team stopping the Australian juggernaut at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Australia’s dominance at the CWG is a matter of envy. Since the game’s introduction in the quadrennial event 24 years ago, the world No.1 Australia has been the most dominant force, having won all six gold medals to date.
Going by renewed optimism and belief among the Indian players, it appears the men’s team has a great opportunity to end Australia’s gold rush at the event. The Indian team, which won a historic Olympic bronze after a hiatus of 41 years last year, has improved by leaps and bounds under Australian head coach Graham Reid.
India’s best result came in 2010 at home (New Delhi) and in Glasgow (2014) when it finished runner-up. The team finished fourth twice — in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, where the sport made its debut and in 2018 in Gold Coast. However, they will now look to improve on their silver medal finish to win Gold for the first time in the Commonwealth Games.
In earlier editions, fitness was one area which was a cause of concern but the current Indian team is considered one of the fittest sides in world hockey.
The improved fitness has translated into results. After claiming a historic bronze in Tokyo, Indian men finished third in this season’s FIH Pro League behind Belgium and Netherlands.
And if the players play to their potential, there is no reason why the Indians can’t bring home their maiden gold from Birmingham.
What have they done so far in the Games?
India, the most successful Olympic nation, has never won gold in men’s hockey at the Commonwealth Games. It made the final twice, in 2010 and 2014, but was defeated both times by Australia. This would be another chance for the Men in Blue to appear in the final of this prestigious event.
India started their 2022 Games campaign by registering a commanding victory over Ghana by a margin of 11 goals. They also dominated most part of their next game against England having led 3-0, however ultimately they succumbed to the English pressure in the fourth quarter to draw that match 4-4. India then thrashed Canada 8-0 in their next game to confirm the ticket to the semis before defeating Wales 4-1 in their final group match to end Group B as table toppers with 10 points and a superior goal difference than the second place English side who also had 10 points from their four games.
In the semi-finals, India had a tough game against defensively solid South Africa, however, the Men in Blue overcame the South African resistance to register a 3-2 win to make it to just their third finals in the Commonwealth Games.
Australia, on the other hand, has simply been prolific in the group stages scoring 29 goals and conceding just two while winning all of their games in the tournament. They started off their campaign by thumping Scotland 12-0 and then followed that up by thrashing arch-rivals New Zealand 7-2. The Aussies made it three in a row after defeating South Africa 3-0 before finishing their group stage by crushing Pakistan 7-0.
In the semi-finals, Australia came up against arch-nemesis England and although both sides fought hard, the former was just too good for the hosts and ended up winning 3-2 to make it to their seventh finals of the Games.
Head to Head Record
India and Australia have faced each other five times in the Commonwealth games with the latter winning each of those encounters comfortably. In their last encounter in the 2014 Glasgow games, Australia thrashed India 4-0 to win their fifth Gold Medal in the final of the Games.
Australia thrashed India 7-1 last time these two sides met in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
However, the last time these two sides competed against each other, Australia thumped India 7-1 in the group game of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the Indians have since then improved their game considerably and would try to out-throw the Hockeyroos for the first time from CWG gold medal.
Key Players
Blake Govers (Australia): The brother of former Kookaburra Kieran, Blake Govers scored on his debut in Tasmania in May 2015 before stepping up from the national development squad to the Kookaburras Olympic training squad, making Australia’s final team for Rio de Janeiro.
A potent penalty corner exponent, his impressive first international season included ‘Best Young Player’ and ‘Top Scorer’ awards at the World League Semi-Final, an Olympic qualifier, in July 2015. A fractured foot ruled him out of the World League Final later that same year.
After some time out of the team following the Rio Olympics, Govers returned with five goals against Papua New Guinea at the 2017 Oceania Cup. He continued his good goal scoring, finishing as Australia’s top scorer with five goals at the triumphant 2017 World League Final to boost his outstanding goals-to-games ratio.
Away from the pitch, Govers is a qualified bricklayer with a passion for Holden classic cars and says he’d be a V8 Supercars driver if he wasn’t a hockey player. He is currently Australia’s leading goal scorer in the tournament having racked up six goals for the Kookaburras in the competition.
Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (India): The 28-year-old has emerged as one of the vital forwards in the India men’s hockey team since making his debut for his national team in 2014. He has been a significant patron in the team’s exhibition by scoring 29 goals in his 127 appearances.
Lalit Kumar Upadhyay will be the player to watch out for in the final against Australia
He was stupendous with his performance in India’s FIH Pro League debut against the Netherlands as netted twice in their overwhelming 5-2 triumph in Bhubaneswar. He has additionally decreed the player of the match.
He had dazzled India hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay, who offered him to play for Air India, where he was voted for the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award at the World Series Hockey competition in 2012.
He has additionally assisted India with securing the gold medals at the 2016 and 2018 Champions Trophy. He was likewise a vital part of the Indian team which sacked the gold medal at the 2017 Asian Games and the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020. It will arrive now to do his absolute best and help India seal a podium spot at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Squad List
Australia squad: Eddie Ockenden (captain), Aran Zalewski, Daniel Beale, Jake Whetton, Andrew Charter, Matt Dawson, Flynn Ogilvie, Jake Harvie, Tom Wickham, Jeremy Hayward, Blake Govers, Jacob Anderson, Tim Howard, Johan Durst, Nathan Ephraums, Josh Simmonds, Tim Brand, Josh Beltz
India squad: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (vice-captain), Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh (captain), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek
Prediction
Both India and Australia dislike being shackled, preferring instead to engage in speedy forays, often turning defence into attack in a few seconds. Expect a high-scoring humdinger in this final encounter with both teams in a positive frame of mind.