Air India on cruise control

By S. Thyagarajan

CHENNAI, NOV. 28. On a grey afternoon when squally weather was threatening to disrupt the proceedings, the second set of matches in Pool C of the National Hockey championship were completed at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here. Tamil Nadu and Air India posted identical 3-0 wins over Food Corporation of India and Madhya Pradesh respectively.

Tamil Nadu, which recorded a facile win over Madhya Pradesh on Monday, had to stretch itself to overcome the challenge posed by Food Corporation of India, despite the dominance in the rival territory.

Air India made a confident start to its campaign. Fielding a host of veteran internationals, the airline outfit settled down to the task quickly. The lead was hoisted early enough when Kishore Kumar picking up a pass from Edward Aranha slammed in. Thereafter Air India maintained a steady flow of pressure prompted well in the mid-field by Gavin Ferreira.

However, it was not easy for the seasoned Air India attack to subjugate the rival defence for whom goal-keeper Ranjeet Singh was intrepid and came in the way of the rival scoring a bigger margin.

In fact, Air India had as many as 13 penalty corners but could succeed in netting only. After the break, during which Air India led 1-0, Viren Ruxquinha hit in a neat shot from a pass by Devinder Kumar following a penalty corner. In the last quarter, played under enveloping darkness, Air India picked up its third goal and ensured full points when Devinder Kumar shot the ball to the roof of the net.

Not until midway into the second half did the Tamil Nadu find its rhythm. But the manner in which it scored thrice in this period, after a lethargic first half, showed the competence of the team to improvise and integrate into a cohesive unit.

Senthil played a stellar role in the performance, by not only slotting a splendid goal midway in the second half from a free hit by Dinesh Nayak but also paving the way for the third goal with a lovely pass to Prabhakaran to put the issue beyond doubt. In between Cedric D'Cruz scored a peach of a goal off a pass from Prabharan who was put through on the move by skipper Tirumalvalavan.

It must be said that the Tamil Nadu frontline lacked the cohesion that was noticeable in the previous match and the FCI defence ensured that the rival attack was curbed from forming a formidable force. Harinder Kadian in the FCI defence played a prominent role.

Tamil Nadu's problems stemmed from the poor midfield co- ordination where only Muthukumar looked confident. In the frontline, with Prabhakaran well bottled up, Senthil took the initiative and worked well. Along with Cedric D'Cruz, he was the major threat to the FCI defence. In the mid-field, Muthukumar caught the eye as did Vinod Kumar.

The FCI attack was not consistent enough to cause a dent in the Tamil Nadu defence but was effective enough to trouble it. Navbir Singh led the attack with enthusiasm supported largely by Mandeep Singh on the wing.

Tamil Nadu, with six points from two matches, has bright chances of making it to the final 16 of the championship to come off at Jammu.

Wednesday's matches: Air India v Kerala (2 p.m.); FCI v Madhya Pradesh (4 p.m.).

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