After a 7-0 drubbing against Pakistan in their opening match, Bangladesh displayed another poor show in the Asia Cup Hockey to suffer a defeat by an identical margin, this time at the hands India, in Dhaka on Friday.
In the other Pool A match at the Moulana Bhasani National Stadium, Japan held Pakistan for a 2-2 draw.
India, the top-ranked side in the tournament and two-time Asia Cup title holders, outplayed the home side in the first two quarters by scoring five goals and added two more in the fourth and final quarter.
Bangladesh failed to offer any challenge to their mighty South Asian neighbour India, who put immense pressure right from the start and dominated the game from the midfield.
Bangladesh keeper Abu Nippon, who replaced Ahim Gop of the first match, made a stunning save in the third minute to deny Sowmarpet Sunil’s powerful attempt from the right corner of the striking circle.
But India took only 7 minutes to break the deadlock when Gurjant Singh flicked home following a cutback from Lalit Upadhyay.
Akashdeep Singh doubled India’s lead in the 11th minute when he found the back of the net with a tricky push following a pass from Varun Kumar.
Lalit made it 3-0 two minutes later by scoring from the handshaking distance.
Amit Rohidas struck India’s fourth goal in the 20th minute when he flicked home following a reverse-hit of Gurjant Singh.
Harmanpreet Singh joined the goal fest when he scored from a penalty stroke in the 28th minute.
India tried hard to add more goals in the scoring chart but Bangladesh kept their net intact in the third quarter.
India earned a total of 14 penalty corners throughout the match but they could score only two goals and both came within one minute.
Ramandeep Singh scored the sixth goal for India in the 46th minute while Harmanpreet made it 7-0 later.
With two comfortable wins, India reached the Super Four being the first team of the Pool A.
Despite the loss, Bangladesh captain Russell Mahmud found some improvement in their performance.
‘I think it was a much-improved performance than the previous match,’ said Jimmy after the match.
‘In the first match we actually lost the game before the final whistle but today [Friday] we fight throughout the game. Otherwise, we could have conceded more goals.’
Meanwhile, the first match between Pakistan and Japan was an exciting one with Japan showing their ability by holding three-time Asia Cup winners Pakistan.
The 2-2 draws kept Pakistan put now in a must-win situation against India to secure their Super Four spot on Sunday.
Japan, who suffered a 1-5 defeat against India in the first match, put up much-improved performance to hold mighty Pakistan in the first quarter.
However, Pakistan took the lead in the first minute of the second quarter when Arslan Muhammad netted from the penalty corner.
Pakistan’s lead lasted only six minutes when Tanaka Kenta returned Japan in the game before Yoshihara Heita gave his side a lead in the 29th minute.
Pakistan finally levelled the margin in the 50th minute with a nice build-up when Umar Bhutta tapped home to level the margin.
RESULTs
India 7 v Bangladesh 0; Pakistan 2 v Japan 2
-With New Age input
