The Indian men’s hockey team will look to continue its recent dominance over the Netherlands with a complete win when the two teams meet in the return leg match of the FIH Pro League in Rourkela on Wednesday. India have performed well in the Pro League so far and the team led by drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh has won two of their five games in the scheduled time. India’s resilience helped them beat the Dutch and Spain in the shootout and earn valuable bonus points.

Their only defeat came at the hands of Australia but that too from a winning position.

India are currently fourth in the Pro League standings with 10 points from five matches.

Netherlands are ahead of Argentina (13 points from 8 matches) and Australia (12 points from 4 matches) with 18 points from nine matches.

But that being said, the Indians, ranked third in the world rankings, have faced a tough time in their last two matches against World No. 12 Ireland and World No. 8 Spain.

India had to work hard to register a 1-0 win over Ireland thanks to a last-minute goal from Gurjant Singh and then beat mighty Spain 8-7 in a marathon shoot-out when both teams were tied 2-2. Was on par with. Regulation 60 minutes.

And tomorrow, the Indians will have to raise their game a few notches to finish the match in stipulated time and get all three points from the tie.

The last three matches may not have gone how they would have liked, but vice-captain Hardik Singh said confidence is high in the camp on the eve of the clash against the world No. 1 team.

Reflecting on the home team’s performance in the previous innings against the Dutch in Bhubaneswar on February 11, Hardik felt that India could have done much better on their own. India leveled the score at 2-2 in regulation time before winning 4-2 in the shootout.

“Our performance in the first half did not live up to expectations, but in the second half we came back strongly and took the game to the shootout. We were confident about our chances from that point on, especially given that we have really good goalkeepers ” Our rank,” said the midfielder. India started their Pro League campaign in Bhubaneswar with a convincing 4-1 win against Spain, followed by a thrilling 2-2 (4-2) shootout win against the mighty Dutch. Achieved, where Hardik scored the opening goal.

India lost 4-6 to Australia but bounced back with a win over Ireland to end the Bhubaneswar leg on a high note.

“The confidence in the camp is very high with the way we have been performing consistently in the competitions and I am sure we will carry this momentum into the tournament as well,” he said.

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