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Hockey World Cup 2023: India v England-Preview, When and Where to Watch

After defeating Spain in the opening match, India awaits the English challenge in the second game of Pool D.

Hockey World Cup 2023: India v England-Preview, When and Where to Watch
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India will play the 9th-16th classification match on Thursday. (HI)

By

The Bridge Desk

Updated: 14 Jan 2023 4:16 PM GMT

Playing in front of a packed crowd, the Indian Men's Hockey Team put up a scintillating show to claim a thrilling 2-0 win in their opening match of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela here at the brand-new Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium on Friday.

While it was local lad Amit Rohidas and young midfielder Hardik Singh who got on the scoresheet, it was a rock-solid defence that helped the hosts kickstart their campaign with a stunning win.

Addressing the media in a post-match press conference, the Indian Men's Hockey Team Chief Coach Graham Reid stated, "We kept the ball out of the goal. It was a good start. I think that's always the case, you try to keep the ball out of the goals, and we managed to do that, so that part was good."

Echoing the Chief Coach's remarks, Captain Harmanpreet Singh, said, "We speak daily that we have to be defensively strong because even if you score or not, it is important to be strong in defence and you can't afford to make silly mistakes. All the boys did well when we were one man down, and as the coach mentioned we have been focusing on practising in the box and that helped us in the game."

With three points in the kitty, India awaits World Number 5 England in their next game which will possibly decide the group winner.

Preview

India is second on the points table at the moment owing to an inferior goal difference as England defeated Wales 5-0.

Both the teams are familiar with each other given their recent history. India and England came across each other in Commonwealth Games. Both the teams played our frantic and entertaining draw with 8 goals scored in total.

India had a bad day in terms of penalty corners as skipper Harmanpreet Singh had a shocker and missed a penalty stroke too.

Reflecting on his personal performance, the ace drag-flicker said, "Yes, I missed converting the Penalty Corners and a Penalty Stroke, but it is part of the game. I need to forget, move ahead and focus on what's next. Overall, we played really well."

Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas and Nilam were brilliant in defence with Hardik and Manpreet Singh running the show. India needs to focus on their discipline and intensity in the final quarter.

England is coming off a dominating 5-0 win over Wales.

When asked about the team's mindset for the next game, Harmanpreet said, "Learnings, confidence, energy, tone and work rate - we will go with all that in the next game because these things are very important."

Head to head

India and England have faced each other 21 times with India winning 10, England winning 7 and 4 games being drawn.

In World Cups, England and India came across each other 7 times with both teams winning three games and one game being drawn.

When and Where to watch

India will play England at 7 pm in Rourkela. The matches will be live on Star Sports Select 2, Star Sports Select 2 HD, and Star Sports First. The live stream will also be available on Disney+ Hotstar and watch.hockey app.

You can also follow live coverage on The Bridge.

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