India settled for silver after losing to Australia 3-1 (0-0) in penalty shootout in the final of Champions Trophy hockey tournament in London on Saturday. After their spectacular effort to hold World No.1 Australia at 0-0 in regular time, India missed three penalties in the shootout to go down fighting in a morale-boosting clash. SK Uthappa, vice-captain SV Sunil and Surendar Kumar missed the strokes for India.
India will usher in 2016 with a three-week tour of Australia, comprising five ODIs and three T20 Internationals, starting January 12.
The title encounter seemed headed for the penalty shootout after Australia's two successive penalty corners in the last 25 seconds, the second of which Ciriello finally found the target by placing the shot wide of the Belgian goalkeeper's reach.
'The level we played in Champions Trophy will not be enough for the Olympics if we are vying for a medal'
Sloppy defending cost India dearly as they conceded a late goal and went down 1-2 to higher-ranked New Zealand in their second league match on Day 2 of the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh.
"All the players have played there before (and) played IPL (Indian Premier League) there. Whatever team is selected, that will be the right team for those conditions and I really do think this could be one of our best chances to win the Twenty20 World Cup.
India will need to win at least a game in the upcoming one-dayer series against Australia to retain their current second position in the ICC ODI Team Championships, even as second-placed Virat Kohli looks to close in on AB de Villiers in the batting chart. World champions Australia go head to head with former winner India in a five-match series in Perth on Tuesday. Australia (127) lead second-ranked India (114) by 13 points and even if they lose all the five matches of the series, they will drop points but still finish a point ahead of India.
Indian defence crumbled under the onslaught of a rampaging Australia as they were handed a 1-5 thrashing by the world champions in their second league fixture of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia on Thursday. Australia, the eight-time winners of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, launched their campaign to reclaim the title they lost to New Zealand last year with a dominant performance against the Indian side seeking to provide exposure to several youngsters. Blake Govers (fifth minute), Jacob Whetton (13th), Eddie Okkenden (20th), Simon Orchard (25th) and Matt Ghodes (53rd) scored for Australia, who have brought virtually their full-strength squad to prepare for the Olympic Games. India's lone goal came through a penalty corner conversion by Rupinder Pal Singh in the eighth minute. This was Australia first outing in the round-robin league, while India prevailed 2-1 over Japan on Wednesday in an unimpressive campaign opener.
Asian Games champions India came from a goal down to clinch an unimpressive 2-1 victory over hard-working Japan on the opening day of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Wednesday. Squandering a series of scoring chances created by defence-splitting crosses that sailed across the goalmouth, India managed to earn full points against the lowly-ranked rivals through goals from young drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh (24th minute) and captain Sardar Singh (32nd) after Kenji Kitazato (17th) gave Japan the lead. Earlier, Pakistan banked on two goals from Muhammad Arslan Qadir to open their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Canada in extremely humid conditions at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium. Qadir opened the account with a field goal in the 27th minute and converted a penalty corner a minute later to give Pakistan a two-goal lead. Canada then pulled one back through Richard Hildreth's flash strike, but Muhammad Arshad capitalised on a 52nd-minute penalty corner to seal Pakistan's victory.
India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli suggested Australia will make the grave mistake of adding 'fuel to fire' if they needle him in Sunday's win-or-bust World Twenty20 contest but asserted he is good enough to excel without provocations.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat first against Australia in their World Twenty20 Super 10 match at Dharamsala on Friday. The Kiwis are on a high after beating hosts India in their Group Two opener and a second win against their trans-Tasman rivals will put them on course for a place in the semi-finals. After their brave gamble to pick three specialist spinners paid off against India, New Zealand decided to bolster the pace attack, dropping off-spinner Nathan McCullum to accommodate Mitchell McClenaghan. "It's nice to get a win early and hopefully we can make an adjustment again on a new wicket," captain Kane Williamson said. Australia captain Steven Smith said he too would have liked to bat first on a dry wicket at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
India opener Rohit Sharma, who hit 441 runs in five matches with two centuries, is the MVP of the recently-concluded ODI series against Australia, ahead of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith.
Zaheer Khan discusses India's chances in the upcoming World T20 in March-April. Harish Kotian/Rediff.com listens in.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Cricketing superpowers clash in an ODI series Sunday onwards. Rajeesh Gupta gives us all the numbers on India-Australia one day encounters.
World champions Australia got the better of defending champions the Netherlands 3-2 in a high-voltage first semi-final to progress to the title round of the ongoing Hockey World League (HWL) Final at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium, in Raiput, on Friday.
The International Cricket Council has admitted that it deliberately tries to put India and Pakistan in the same group at world events as it is hugely important for the success of tournaments.
Boozy celebrations have been a part of Australian cricket for decades but Test hopeful Fawad Ahmed will be politely declining when the victory beers are passed around on the tour of the Caribbean and England.
Jasjit Singh sent two rasping penalty corner drag flicks into the net as India edged past hosts Malaysia 3-2 to move to the semifinals of the Hockey World League semi-finals in Antwerp.
A listless India slumped to a heart-breaking 0-1 defeat to hosts Malaysia in their last league match as they failed to reach the final of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament for the second consecutive year in Ipoh, Malaysia on Friday.
Terry Walsh quit as coach of India's men's hockey team on Tuesday after his demands were not met by Hockey India and the Sports Authority of India. The 60-year-old Australian, who guided India to the men's hockey gold at the Incheon Asian Games, however, said he could return if his demands are met.
A lackluster India suffered their second consecutive defeat to crash out of the title race of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament and chief coach Paul Van Ass expressed his unhappiness over the performance of his players, saying that for the second day on the trot they gave away the match to the opposition.
India will face Great Britain in the quarter-finals on Thursday after the British drew 3-3 with Belgium to top Pool A in the Hockey World League (HWL) Final at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium in Raipur on Tuesday.
Ben Stokes smashed an unbeaten century as England outclassed World champions Australia by 40 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-hit match to knock them out of the ICC Champions Trophy, in Birmingham, on Saturday.
World champions Australia completed their all-win sequence in the round-robin league competition of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament by posting a facile 3-0 victory over Canada, in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Friday.
The Indian women's cricket team produced a superb all-round performance to chase down a record total and upstage World champions Australia by five wickets in the opening Twenty20 International in Adelaide, on Tuesday.
India's defence caved in under pressure as a rampaging Australia crushed them 6-2 in the last league fixture of the FIH World League semi-finals in Antwerp.
- 'I hope our training on creating early pressure will be evident when we go into the competition'
With all hopes of making it to the final erased, a misfiring India had to toil to get the better of lowly Canada 5-3 and register their first victory in the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Thursday.
World Champions Australia thrashed India 4-0 to reclaim the Azlan Shah Cup hockey title in Ipoh, Malaysia, on Saturday.
India finished sixth ahead of Olympic champions Germany in Hero Hockey World League Final and its chief coach Terry Walsh said his wards' performance in the eight-nation event gave the hosts the self belief to take on any side in the world.
While winning four major finals, India have finished on the losing side in the finals on four occasions.
The Indian women's cricket team produced another clinical performance to crush Australia by 10 wickets in a rain-affected T20 International match and clinch the three-match series 2-0, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on Friday.
India's hopes of qualifying for the title clash hung in balance as they succumbed 2-4 to world champions Australia in their last league outing of the 36th Hero Champions Trophy Hockey tournament in London on Thursday. India's two goals came from penalty corner shooter VR Raghunath and striker Mandeep Singh, but it was too late to cause any threat to Australia, who had gained a stranglehold through strikes from Trent Mitton, Aran Zalewski, Flynn Ogilvie and Tristian White.
India will launch its ICC Champions Trophy title defence against traditional rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on June 4, 2017.
Soundly thrashed by Australia in their last match, India will look to sort out their defensive woes when they take on Malaysia in their quarter-final match of the Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium, on Wednesday.
Ramandeep Singh scored two fine goals as the showpiece subcontinental hockey encounter between arch-rivals India and Pakistan ended in a thrilling 2-2 draw in the World League semi-finals at the KHC Dragons Stadium in Antwerp.
India captain Sardar Singh asserted that they have a lot to play for in the ongoing Hockey World League Semifinals.
India registered a resounding victory in the T20 series-opener against Australia, and following their clinical performance Sunil Gavaskar feels the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side will start as favourites at the upcoming World Twenty20 at home.
Sachin Tendulkar was named 2015 World Cup's ambassador for the second successive edition.
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