The irony of sport – and indeed life itself – was never too apparent than in India’s last two games in the Hero Honda FIH World Cup. On Saturday, India lost to a game England that it should have drawn, if not won. On Monday, it was left thanking its stars after a 3-3 draw with a Shivendra Singh goal in the dying minutes to figure in the play-off for the seventh place.
It would be an understatement to say that India dominated much of the match – throwing in a number of attackers to raid the South African circle, playing a bit more aggressively than it did in the past few games. And yet, for a large part of the second half, it did not seem to find that one nudge that would slot the ball home – until just five minutes were left for the final whistle.
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