Hockey World Cup 2023: India held to 0-0 draw by England in Pool D encounter

India were held to a 0-0 draw by England in their Pool D match in the Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 on Sunday in Rourkela after an entertaining game of hockey.

Both teams had enough chances to win the encounter, but the defences were up to the task as they had to share the points on the day.

India started off brightly in the match but England quickly took charge of proceedings and got a flurry of Penalty Corners. India's first PC came in the 13th minute of the match but Harmanpreet failed to trap the ball properly.

England started Q2 with the same vigour and made Pathak pull off a save early on. They got their seventh penalty corner in the 21st minute but the Indian defence

Nilam Xess made a brilliant block to prevent England from scoring. And in a break that ensued after that, India almost opened the scoring through Manpreet, but his diving effort went just wide.

England goalkeeper Olivier Payne was called into action a couple of times but he was equal to the task as we went into half-time at 0-0.

The



match restarted and England was once again applying pressure in the Indian D. Hardik Rai made a brilliant run into the England D and unleashed a shot but Payne once again made a good save. The ball was still in play and Akashdeep's shot went wide.

The 39th minute saw Sam Ward get a glorious chance as he was one-on-one with Sreejesh. But the England player hit his shot well wide.

In the final few seconds of the quarter, Mandeep thought he had given India the lead, but the referee ruled it out as they headed into the final quarter.

The hosts started the final quarter with a lot of vigour and had a couple of shots early on. England absorbed the pressure and kept probing with a few attacks on the Indian circle.

The Indian defence remained resolute as England started to pile on the pressure. India lost Hardik due to a injury and had a couple of green cards as well as we headed into the final minutes of the match.

With 19 seconds remaining, England got a PC and Bandurak's shot hit the post and out as both teams settled for a draw on Sunday.