India's match against England on Monday was like a sandstorm which kept changing direction. The contest, India's performance and players' temperament swung like a pendulum. Going into half-time with a comfortable 3-0 cushion, Manpreet Singh & Co dug deep into their resources to escape with a 4-all draw.
It wasn't that India lacked in strategy or execution, that they did with precision in the first two quarters.
They were found wanting in discipline and application at crucial junctures which cost them a win, which would have strengthened their case to top Pool B.
One player who will be disappointed the most with himself on the day will be defender Varun Kumar. The 27-year-old brought out the street fighter in him and was penalized with two yellow cards on two occasions (19th and 43rd minutes).
Adding to India's woes was Gurjant Singh who collected a yellow in the 51st minute (for 10 minutes) which at one point reduced India to nine-men in the final quarter, a situation which the hosts cashed in on.
With Krishan Pathak replacing the experienced PR Sreejesh in the goal in the latter half of the match, reinforcement was needed in the defence, for which India could not muster the numbers. India relieved their past horror of not holding on to a lead. From a 4-1 advantage in the 46th minute, they allowed three goals in seven minutes.
Mandeep Singh struck a brace (13, 22th minutes) while Lalit Upadhyay (3rd) and Harmanpreet (46th) added one each. For England, Liam Ansell (42th) opened the scoring while Nicholas Bandurak (47, 53) struck twice and Philip Roper (50th) added one.
