India's mens hockey team suffered a defeat in the first hockey Test match of the four-match series at Nelson on Tuesday. New Zealand hockey team managed to pop in two goals and the defense made sure that the scoreline stays like that till the end of the game.
It was evident that New Zealand mens hockey team had the control of the game in the first two halves of the first Test match.
They opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the match when a penalty corner was converted into a goal by Nick Haig.
The hosts continued to remain upbeat and looked for more goals in the second half as well. They eventually doubled their lead late in the second half when Jared Panchia found the back of the net just ahead of the final whistle.
India could manage to win only one penalty corner in the entire match and that too they failed to convert into a goal. Gurjinder Singh of India missed the chance.
The visitors came back strongly in the second half and had the possession of the ball for most of the minutes spent on the field in the later half of the game. Unfortunately they could not find the back of the net and at the end New Zealand emerged victorious in the first Test match against India.
One would have expected a better result from India after they had won two back-to-back games against New Zealand A team ahead of this first Test match, but they could not carry that momentum into this game and ended up losing it.
India will surely try and bounce back in this series against the upbeat hosts in the second Test match of the series, which will be played on Wednesday.
