Raipur, Oct 27 (IANS) It was another eventful day in Raipur, as Nyayadhani Knights entered the semis by virtue of continuing to be top of the points table, after they played out a 4-4 draw against Chakradhar Champions in the first match; the second witnessed a maiden win for Sanskardhani Strikers, as they got the better of Rajdhani Royals 4-2.
Talking about Match No. 10, Yuvraj Walmiki emerged as the hero for the Champions with three goals, while Ketan displayed his best hockey for the Knights. The first quarter was the one where teams just tested the waters and played conservative hockey.
Come the second, Ketan and Adarsh opened the scoring for Nyayadhani, when the former beat at least four defenders in his run from the right flank, entering the circle with much ease. He then passed the ball to Adarsh in the last moment, who netted it.
The second goal didn’t take much time to come; again Ketan entered the circle through the left this time, and Sonu Nishad was the one who came up with the deflection, to take their team to 2-1 at half-time. A similar story started unfolding in the third quarter. Chirag missed, but Ketan found himself right in front of the goal to score his first, bringing their tally to four.
Meanwhile, Walmiki scored two via penalty strokes, and the third one was a field goal, after being injected a ball from Sunil just outside the circle. The former went in for a reverse flick that landed in the post. Completing his second hat-trick of the tournament, he looked good for his fourth as well…but Khogeshwar was awarded for a deflection.
Strikers finally arrived. After struggling in the first three encounters, the Shamsher-led Strikers struck top form, with two goals each coming from Ashish Tani Purti and Shahrukh.
In this battle, both sides had a lot at stake. It was their only chance to stay alive, with neither having managed to secure a win before this encounter. And the pressure showed initially. Both teams had a slow start.
Attacks and circle penetrations were hard to come by for them, while the focus was on maintaining possession. Still, Ashish managed to open the scoring through a PC for Strikers.
After a bit of a struggle, Royals too came back in the match, just before the half-time hooter, with Raushan scoring on the reverse. It was an excellent run of play as he dodged a few in the circle, found some space on the left, and then executed the shot to draw parity.
Rajdhani’s defence was largely good, but the slightest of mistakes of leaving Shahrukh unmarked meant he scored from just inside the circle, through a reverse flick. There was no looking back from that moment for Sanskardhani. Ashish converted yet another PC to take his tournament total to 9 goals.
Shahrukh again struck, with a minute left in the third quarter, after getting a solid pass right in front of the post from the right flank. It was only a question of increasing the lead now.
Nonetheless, Lalit got on the scorers sheet too for Rajdhani, when he got one into the net, on the rebound from a PC.
That also marked the end of the proceedings, with Ashish winning the striker of the match award, and Shahrukh clinching the Player of the Match award.
–IANS
hs/bsk/
