The Indian men's hockey team began their European leg of FIH Pro League with a 2-1 loss against the Netherlands on Saturday. For India, Harmanpreet Singh opened the scoring, but Thijs van Dam scored twice to hand his team a deserving win.
India started the match strongly as they dominated the Dutch on the ball. Despite the high press from the home team, India's midfield controlled the proceedings and continuously moved the ball. There were no big chances in the first quarter except for one when Dilpreet Singh got the ball after a mistake from a Dutch defender. He tried to beat the goalkeeper with a reverse hit but failed.
The opening goal came in the 19th minute when India got their first penalty corner chance. Captain Harmanpreet, back from his rehab post his wrist and ankle, came up with a brilliant dragflick effort to give India the lead.
However, six minutes later, there was a lapse in concentration on Harmanpreet's part as he lost the ball cheaply after coming under pressure from Steijn van Heijningen. The ball was collected by van Dam and he made no mistake in beating the goalkeeper.
Post the break, the Dutch were the better team however, both teams failed to create enough chances. The quality dipped but the Dutch were slightly better on the ball while India struggled to get their intensity up.
It seemed like the match would end in a draw and a shootout would take place for the bonus point but once again, the Dutch's pressing worked and van Dam got the ball, took a touch and produced a brilliant reverse hit to beat Suraj Karkera with just two minutes left on the clock.
India head coach Craig Fulton will hope his team will show improvements in their next match against the same opponents on Monday.
Relive all the action from the match on our blog, below: