FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022-23: India 2(4)-2(3) Australia Highlights

Hello and welcome to the live blog for India vs Australia match in FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2023 at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela.

India sit pretty comfortably at the top of the FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022-23 points table, having beaten both Germany and Australia at home in Rourkela. The Men in Blue have played seven and won five matches for 17 points. Their opponents Australia are sixth with just two wins from the same number of matches. Follow the India vs Australia match live updates here.

Both teams clashed a couple of days ago in a thriller at the same venue that saw India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur scoring a hat-trick to lead the Men in Blue to a 5-4 win over the Kookaburras. Australia, however, overcame that defeat with a narrow 1-0 win over world champions Germany yesterday. It was their only second win the in the ongoing tournament.

The Stakes

India

India have made the most of playing at home with three consecutive wins, one of them coming against Australia and two over Germany. The Men in Blue are now at the top of the standings and will want to consolidate their spot with a victory in their final game of the Rourkela leg. While their attack have flourished, the defence leaking that many goals in every game will be a concern for the management.

Australia

The Kookaburras are placed in the sixth spot in the points table winning just two matches from seven encounters. Australia’s victories came against Argentina and Germany, while they have lost four and drawn one. It will be a tough test for Australia taking on India, who scored five goals past them in the previous meeting.

Head-to-Head

India vs Australia Head To Head

Matches Played – 135India won – 24Australia won – 91Matches Drawn – 21

More details here

Squads

India

PR Sreejesh, Pawan, Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Manjeet, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Vishnukant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, S. Karthi, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek, Gurjant Singh.

Australia

Anand Gupte, Tim Howard, Aran Zalewski, Jacob Whetton, Jake Harvie, Ben Staines, Davis Atkin, Nathan Ephraums, Joshua Beltz, James Collins, Hayden Beltz, Edward Ockenden, Lachlan Sharp, Craig Marais, Jayden Atkinson, Jacob Anderson, Jack Welch, Johan Durst, Ben Rennie, Ky Willott.