CLINICAL Australia fought back from a goal down to beat India 4-2, and
stormed into the final of the 2025 Sultan of Johor Cup at the Johor Hockey
Stadium, Taman Daya, on Wednesday.
It was India’s first defeat in the ongoing Sultan of Johor Cup.
Captain Rohit (22nd minute) and Arshdeep Singh (60th minute) scored for
India while the Australians responded through Oscar Sproule (39th, 42nd),
Andrew Patrick (40th) and captain Dylan Downey (51st).
India is placed second with seven points from four games, having won two,
drawn one and lost a game. Jay Stacy’s Burras surged to top spot in the
standings with 10 points after four matches with a remaining fifth and last
round-robin encounter against Pakistan on Friday (Oct 17).
A victory by the Australians against the Green Shirts will catapult the
Burras to the top of the table with 13 points, leaving India in second spot.
Despite the defeat, statistics show that either India (7 points) or Great
Britain (6 points) have a chance of joining Australia in Saturday’s final.
India and Malaysia go into a showdown on Friday in their final round-robin
match and should the Indians pull off a victory against the host, it paves the
way for the coach PR Sreejesh’s Colts a direct entry into the final, having
amassed 10 points.
The Blue Shirts dominated possession in the first quarter after some early
hiccups. A brilliant save by goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh in the early
proceedings was followed by India hardly putting a foot wrong until the
conclusion of the first quarter hooter.
The second quarter saw India win the first penalty corner in the 17th
minute but Anmol Ekka’s flick had too much power and went over the post.
Australian coach Stacy, said: “A win against India today was our objective at
the start of the tournament. If that’s correct, then that’s terrific. However,
we can still get better. Our first half was not near where we needed to be.
But we changed the momentum, we became a little bit braver in the second
half.”
“We took the game on a little bit more, and when they put their mind to it,
then they can be very creative and create opportunities, which we did.
That’s what we’re happy about.”.

“We weren’t very good in the first half, so, so in the second half we had a bit
to prove to ourselves – not anybody else, not the scoreboard or anything –
but to ourselves that we can play much better than that. And I think that
they turned it around. So, I’m really pleased for the boys. It is good for our
World Cup preparation,” added Stacy.