India take on high-flying Ireland in their round-robin tie of Pool B at Women's World Cup 2018 on Thursday, July 26 in London.
When does the match start and how to watch it live
The hockey match between India women and their Irish counterparts will start at 2 pm local time, 6:30 pm IST.
Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2 HD will provide live television coverage of the match in India. The live stream will be available on Hotstar.
What to expect from the World Cup Pool B tie
India punched above their weight to seal a 1-1 draw against Olympic champions England in their tournament opener on July 21. Rani Rampal's women came up with a valiant show, considering they were blanked 6-0 by the English team in the bronze medal match in Gold Coast earlier this year.
Sjoerd Marijne-coached side took the early lead through Neha Goyal's strike in the 25st minute and nearly held onto it before England got the equaliser towards the final minutes of the match.
Skipper Rani said that the team is feeling confident as they had a lot of positives to take from the opening day draw against the formidable English side.
"I think it was a great match, a good start for us. There are so many positives that we can draw from that match which will help us in the upcoming matches in the tournament. I don't think we are surprised with our performance because we have done well against England in the past and this time we went for a win," Rani was quoted as saying by IANS.
"The entire team including support staff sat down for a meeting after the match to discuss our performance. We also discussed the goal we conceded and how we could have averted it. Our team feels we can do better than what we played against England and the aim is to improve match by match."
India ready for Ireland test: Rani
Nonetheless, the 10th-ranked Indian side face a stern test against lower-ranked Ireland, who are currently on top of the Pool B standings after their surprise 3-1 win over USA in their tournament opener.
Rani's women cannot afford to drop points once again as it will put more pressure on them ahead of their final round-robin tie against USA. On the contrary, a win will help their chances of finishing on top of the Pool and seal a direct quarter-final berth.
While revealing that the team had watched videos from Ireland's win over the USA to prepare for Thursday's outing, skipper Rani said: "Yes, we have watched videos from Ireland's match against USA and credit goes to them for a good start and good defending to hold their lead till the end."
"In the three days rest that we have had, we played a few practice matches among ourselves to try out different methods in goal scoring and keep up the momentum. We need to make a good start against Ireland and keep up the pressure on them."
India squad
Goalkeepers - 1. Savita (vice-captain), 2. Rajani Etimarpu
Defenders - 3. Sunita Lakra, 4.Deep Grace Ekka, 5. Deepika, 6. Gurjit Kaur, 7. Reena Khokhar
Midfielders - 8. Namita Toppo, 9. Lilima Minz, 10. Monika, 11. Neha Goyal, 12. Navjot Kaur, 13. Nikki Pradhan
Forwards - 14. Rani (captain), 15. Vandana Katariya, 16. Navneet Kaur, 17. Lalremsiami, 18. Udita
