Hockey India League status check: Kalinga Lancers emerging as the team to beat; field goals outnumbering penalty corners

Even Sharmila Tagore can’t defend Nadaaniyan, but says grandson Ibrahim Ali Khan ‘looked great’ in it: ‘She thinks I have it in me’

Kalinga Lancers continued their resurgence as they overcame a hurting Team Gonasika 2-1 in a tight contest. The match reiterated one of the most definitive trends emerging in the Hockey India League men’s tournament in Rourkela is that the field goals are outnumbering set piece strikes. After 17 matches, there have been 41 goals from open play, while penalty corner goals stand at 32 and only one penalty stroke scored so far. For comparison, the 154 goals scored at Paris Olympics (men’s event) were evenly split between set-piece and open play — 77 field goals, 62 penalty corners, and 15 penalty strokes.

And, indeed, all three goals in Lancers’ second straight win were field goals. SV Sunil (14`) gave Gonasika the deserved lead as they made a better start to the match, looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking 5-6 defeat just 24 hours earlier. But Lancers’ overseas quality once again shone through as Antoine Kina (28`) and captain Aran Zalewski (33`) completed the turnaround.

With two significant results on the trot, Lancers are fast emerging the team to beat as the league phase near the halfway stage. While the initial stages of the tournament saw two early frontrunners in Bengal Tigers and UP Rudras, over the last two days both of them suffered significant defeats each against the team that started the match at the foot of the table. The table still looks tight, with only Delhi SG Pipers yet to win a match outright and all teams having lost at least once either in a shootout or in regulation time.

Captain Aran Zalewski steps up to give @Kalinga_Lancers a lead early in the second half!

Watch the LIVE coverage on DD Sports, Waves, Sony TEN 1, Sony TEN 3, Sony TEN 4 and Sony LIV!#HeroHIL #HockeyKaJashn #HockeyIndiaLeague #VEKLvsGSKA | @ddsportschannel | @WAVES_OTT |… pic.twitter.com/Z3DKVhaloh

— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 9, 2025

On Tuesday, Kalinga Lancers had produced arguably the performance of the tournament so far as they put six past Tigers to end their perfect winning start. Now they have moved up to third in the standings.

Story continues below this ad

Tight battle in the table

The biggest takeaway so far is that the fight for top four is going to be close. With no team either pulling away completely or struggling for form badly, the next couple of rounds are likely to paint a clearer picture. Teams didn’t get a lot of time to practice together before the league began at the end of last year, so the connections are likely to get better between the Indians and international stars.

This is where Lancers, and perhaps Tamil Nadu Dragons, could be the teams to watch out for in the coming days. For Dragons, Dutch drag flicker Jip Janssen is starting to step up and in Blake Govers, they have a forward dovetailing with the Indian youngsters. Lancers, who built a squad without going beyond Rs 38 lakh for any player, have serious international goalscoring threat in their ranks and after a slow start, Thierry Brinkman, Alexander Hendrickx, Nicholas Bandurak are starting to show their class.

The key tactical advantage that the Odisha franchise possesses is the ability to play Krishan Pathak in goal, which means they can play their full quota of five overseas players all the time. As evidenced on Thursday, it gives them an edge in tight situations with Hendrickx setting up Zalewski beautifully for the winner.

Dutchmen leading the way

In the goalscoring charts, two Dutchmen are leading the way with four goals each: both Brinkman and Janssen have registered a hat-trick each already are currently the top two. After a slow start to the tournament, laid low by an illness, India captain Harmanpreet Singh is also starting to find his radar, with three goals in his last two games. Also on three goals are Indian drag-flicker Jugraj Singh, Belgian ace Hendrickx, and Argentina’s Tomas Domene.

Story continues below this ad

While the first 8 matches of the tournament witnessed four draws that needed shootouts, there has been only one regulation-time draw in the next 9 matches.

Indians to have impressed so far

While Harmanpreet and Jugraj are on three goals each, seven Indians have netted twice. Among them, Sukhjeet Singh (Tigers), Araijeet Singh Hundal (Gonasika) and Sudeep Chirmako (Rudras) have looked sharp in leading the line. The now-retired Rupinder Pal Singh also made a good start to the tournament, with two goals for Tigers and some solid defensive play. Another retiree in Sunil joined Rupinder on 2 goals, turning back the clock with a poacher’s finish against Lancers but it wasn’t enough to lead his side to a win. Elsewhere, Lancers’ Dilpreet Singh, Tigers’ Jaskaran Singh and Toofans’ Rajinder Singh have caught the eye.

Source link

Hockey India League status check: Kalinga Lancers emerging as the team to beat; field goals outnumbering penalty corners

Tight battle in the table

Dutchmen leading the way

Indians to have impressed so far

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Most Popular

Recent Comments

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

ABOUT US

FOLLOW US