Rajgir: It was once again choc-a-bloc at the Rajgir Sports Complex as fans poured in, hoping to see the Indian team dominate Japan in their second match of the Asia Cup here on Sunday. But that wasn’t the case, as the hosts just managed a narrow 3-2 win, thanks to some solid goalkeeping by Suraj Karkera and brilliant running by Vivek Sagar Prasad during the penalty corners, following some high-press play, to book their spot in the Super4s stage. As for the goals, Mandeep Singh opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a field goal following a pass from Sukhjeet Singh, and Harmanpreet Singh doubled the lead in the next minute after India won a series of penalty corners. The captain struck again in the dying seconds of the third quarter, scoring his second of the match through the legs of the goalkeeper, after Kosei Kawabe had pulled one back for Japan in the 38th minute. Kawabe was on target once more with a minute left on the clock as Karkera’s defence was eventually breached after the ball deflected off the framework. Sensing a chance to equalise, Japan kept applying pressure, but India managed to hold on, even as Harmanpreet received a yellow card. Karkera, however, was brilliant—especially when Japan won four back-to-back penalty corners in the second quarter and then three successive corners in the final quarter. During one of those, he first stopped the ball with his left foot and then dived to block the deflected shot that came off the rebound. Even Krishan Bahadur Pathak, playing his 150th match, made around five saves, but it was Karkera who stole the show. Asked what was going through his mind when Japan kept winning successive penalty corners, the Indian custodian said, “We had planned a way to defend the PCs, and we executed it. Of course, there is a lot of space for improvement. But we watched the videos of the match against China and worked on wherever we did wrong.” While Karkera has worked a lot on his reflexes, facing up to 500 shots in training sessions, he specifically focused on counter control ahead of the tournament, which was evident in the way he managed the team as Japan countered in the late stages of the game. Coach Craig Fulton was also happy with Karkera and Vivek’s performances but rued the absence of field goals despite the team creating multiple chances. “We high-pressed really well, and that part of our game was excellent. We couldn’t convert a few more field goals, but the stats are really high for us in that aspect. We just couldn’t finish what we started,” said Fulton. However, playing such a high-pressing game early on, combined with the heat, left the team low on energy in the third quarter. “These games at 3 o’clock and 1 o’clock are super difficult. No one really realised it. You don’t play in 35-degree heat with this humidity normally unless you come from Malaysia or somewhere hot all the time,” added the coach. It was during this period that Japan pulled one back and pressed hard in the final quarter, but India eventually held on for the win. Earlier in the day, China scored 13 goals against Kazakhstan after conceding in the second minute through a penalty corner. After that early hiccup, China dominated and will be hoping to carry that momentum against Japan on Monday. India, meanwhile, will face Kazakhstan next.
