Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 Preview: India look to seal top spot in group D against Wales

The Men in Blue have won one and drawn one game so far in the tournament.

The hosts of the 15th FIH Hockey World Cup have shown their mettle in the first two games as they downed Spain 2-0 in the opener and played a closely contested draw against England. In the final game against Wales who are out of the competition, India would look to score big to top the group. 

Wales looked completely out of sorts in the two games as their defence was picked apart by England and Spain who scored five past them in both matches. The 15th-ranked team is currently languishing bottom of the chart with a -9 goal difference. 

The stakes

India

The final two spots of the group are being closely contested by England, India and Spain. England and India are currently occupying the top two spots with 4 points each with England leading on goal difference. 

If India and England both win their last group game and India beat England’s goal difference then they would top the group. India will also look to increase the confidence of the forwards after a wasteful performance against the three lions in the second game. 

A big win will also keep their morals high before the knock-out stage begins as India look to end their 47-year trophy draught this year. 

Wales

Wales have not been in great form in recent times and their performance in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games also didn’t cover them in a lot of glory. They finished fourth in their group managing only one win against Ghana. Their issues with the defence were pretty visible in the CWG as well as they leaked twelve goals in that competition as well. 

However, the side will want to sign off on a high and spoil the party for the hosts. If Wales manages to tie India down to a goalless draw and Spain pips Germany, India will be knocked out. 

India vs Wales Head to Head

India has faced Wales only on five occasions and the men in blue have won on all five of them. 

Goals Scored by India - 19

Goals Scored by Wales - 9

Biggest India Win - India routed Wales 6-3 at the 1998 Commonwealth Games

Last Encounter - India won 4-1 at the 2022 CWG

Team News

A body blow pulled the hamstring of Hardik Singh in the fourth quarter of India’s match against England last Sunday. According to sources, Rajkumar Pal will replace the injured midfielder in the squad of 18 as Hardik is ruled out of the tournament.

Probable Lineups

India:

P.R. Sreejesh, Krishna Pathak, Jarmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (Captain), Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas (Vice Captain), Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Manpreet Singh,  Rajkumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh

Wales:

Toby Reynolds-Cotterill, Rhys Payne, Gareth Furlong, Daniel Kyriakides, Hywel Jones, Ioan Wall, Steve Kelly, Lewis Prosser (captain), Dale Hutchinson, Jacob Draper, Gareth Griffiths, Rhys Bradshaw, Rupert Shipperley (captain), Fred Newbold, Ben Francis, Luke Hawker (captain), James Carson, Jack Pritchard

Reserves: Rhodri Furlong, Jolyon Morgan

Telecast

The match between England and India will take place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Thursday (19 January 2023). The live broadcast will begin at 7:00 PM IST on Star Sports 2, Star Sports First, and Star Sports Select 2 HD.

Fans can also watch the live stream on Disney+ Hotstar app, watch.hockey app or website.