India stunned Tokyo Games silver medallist and their biggest nemesis Australia 3-2 in Paris on Friday
Indian men's hockey team suffers 1-5 thrashing at hands of Australia in first Test
India made a promising start by taking a first-half lead but its defence fell apart later as the team lost the fourth hockey Test 1-5 to Australia and conceded an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, in Adelaide, on Saturday.
Australia scored the first goal of the game in the first quarter, having started the final on a dominating note.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh's brace went in vain as India lost 4-5 to Australia in the final game and handed the five-Test hockey series 1-4 to the world No. 1 side, in Adelaide, on Sunday.
The Kookaburras had pulled ahead twice in the game, thanks to goals by Tom Wickham, but the Netherlands managed to equalise through goals by Mink van der Weerden and Jeroen Hertzberger.
The Indian men's hockey team's trip Down Under began with a 1-4 defeat to Australia 'A' in the first international friendly, in Rockingham, on Monday. However, the Indian women's team provided some relief by drawing the third Test against Australia 1-1 at Mundrah, a suburb about 100 km from Perth.
There was no let up as the Aussies kept pressing hard from the start, while India hardly enjoyed possession, which was further compounded by an injury to skipper Manpreet Singh.
Belgium won their first Olympic men's hockey title, beating Australia 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out after the final finished in a 1-1 draw, in Tokyo, on Thursday.
India thus finished a fantastic badminton campaign with three gold, one silver and two bronze.
India put up a spirited show before squandering the early lead to go down 1-3 against defending champions Australia in a league match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, in Ipoh.
India were made to toil hard by the world No 2 Australia before eventually losing the match in a close encounter.
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