Paris: Wasteful India rode on a brace of goals from captain Harmanpreet Singh to ensure passage into the quarterfinals of the Olympic hockey competition with a weary 2-0 victory over Ireland, who displayed a lot of grit and even squandered a couple of scoring opportunities that left Tokyo bronze medallists India blushing.

Harmanpreet duly capitalised on a penalty stroke in the 11th minute with a low shot into the boards and seven minutes later sent a soaring drag-flicked penalty corner into the net. Out of six goals scored in three fixtures, Harmanpreet has contributes four goals to the Indian tally.

Picking up a pass inside the scoring zone from Mandeep Singh, fellow-striker Gurjant Singh was shaping for a crack at the goal when he was brought down and the umpire blew for a penalty stroke on which Harmanpreet was not to be denied. The Indian captain saw scrimmages off his early penalty corner shots, but decided to take the aerial route for the fourth drag-flick and tasted success as the ball flew into the cage. The rest of the duration was an exhibition of missed chances at both ends.

This victory gives India seven points from three preliminary group outings before they take on the big guns – reigning Olympic champions Belgium and Tokyo silver medallists Australia. The passage to the knock-out round of eight is clear, but India are still in suspense about their final spot in Pool B, which will even determine the quarter-final opponents.

Bronze medallists in Tokyo Olympics, India were expected to make the quarterfinals along with Belgium, Australia. and Argentina. Despite some close encounters, the scenario has not changed at all.

India were calling the shots at the start with their strikers playing a more cohesive game compared to their previous outings and the Irish were feeling the effects of the soaring mercury as the temperature on the pitch touched 39 degrees Celsius.

Ireland did not come into the frame until the 21st minute when a series of deft passes saw Peter Brown charge into the Indian circle from the left, but made a hash of the move by sending his shot into the side of the boards. Soon after, livewire Benjamin Walker picked a long diagonal ball on top of the scoring area, but could not create an angle to pierce through the defensive wall.

Once the Indians got exhausted due to the heat, the Irish bounced back to dominate the proceedings after half-time, proceeding to force as many as 10 penalty corners that would be a subject of intense debate inside the Indian team meetings ahead of Thursday’s encounter with Belgium.

Goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh kept India’s lead intact by repeatedly padding away penalty corner shots – eight of them in the third quarter itself. Some serious defensive lapses allowed the Irish strikers leeway into the Indian territory, but today’s major Irish accomplishment was blocking the pathway of passes from the Indian defence to the strikers.

The Indian strikers seemed to be missing in the act. For an extended period there seemed little connect between the forwards and the midfield. This enabled Ireland an opportunity to exert pressure and they should have reduced the lead in the 43rd minute when Walker capitalised on a defensive lapse to find himself in the goalmouth with the custodian at his mercy. Walker, however, muffed it up by scooping the ball high over the crossbar.

Five minutes before the final hooter, Matthew Nelson was within hand-shaking distance with the goalkeeper, but he merely sent the push wide of the post. In the last minute, defender Jarmanpreet Singh saved the Indian citadel from falling by effecting a goal-line save on the last of Ireland’s penalty corners.

Just minutes earlier, Jarmanpreet was ruing his inability to deflect in Manpreet Singh’s cross from the left that drifted across the goal-mount without any interception. Other than Harmanpreet alternating between soaring drag-flicks and pushing straight to the goalkeeper’s pads, with the intention of capitalising on the rebound, India displayed just one additional variety today as Amit Rohitdas was allowed to take one of their seven penalty corners.

India’s midfield continued to be off-colour, partially because of star midfielder Hardik Singh being assigned defensive duties. The defence seemed to have disintegrated in the second half, although the use of aerial balls to feed passes to the strikers continued to produce results for India. Yet, the number of soft penalty corners being conceded by India tells a woeful tale.

One big positive that emerged from today’s display was the manner in which the Indian players fell back to defend. India placed up to nine players in their own zone when the rivals mounted raids. As the competition moves toward the business end, India’s fate could largely depend on how briskly Indians can fall back to thwart counter-raids.

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