India maintained their winning momentum in the FIH Pro League with a deserving 3-1 win over Ireland at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
Craig Fulton's side went behind early in the first quarter after Jermey Duncan calmly converted his chance. Ireland were the better team in the opening 15 minutes and they punished India for being too passive.
India responded well in the next quarter. They showed urgency on the ball and pressed really well. The equaliser came in the 22nd minute of the game after Mandeep Singh came up with a smashing finish. He received the pass from Abhishek and ran diagonally to enter the circle and executed the powerful hit.
After the break, both teams were not at their fluent best but India did well to earn their penalty corners. Harmanpreet Singh's dragflick was saved by Jamie Carr but Jarmanpreet Singh was there at the right spot to finish the rebound. Although it was not a dragflick goal, it is India's first penalty corner conversion in their five matches.
Ireland pushed to find their equaliser in the final quarter, but they lacked quality going forward. The third goal also came from a penalty corner. This time Harmanpreet went for a variation with Sukhjeet Singh deflection Rajinder Singh's shot in the 58th minute which sealed the match in India's favour.
Both sides will meet again on Saturday at 7:30 PM.
You can relive the match in our live blog, below: