New Delhi: India won the four-test men's hockey series against New Zealand after playing a 1-1 draw in the final test in Christchurch on Sunday.

India won both the warm up matches during the tour which was played against New Zealand A team. Unfortunately Sardar and company started their campaign against New Zealand main team with a loss as they lost at 0-2. However, India bounced back under the guidance of chief coach Roelant Oltmans and registered a 3-2 win on the same ground at Nelson in the second match, making it 1-1.

In the third match at Christchurch, last minute goal by Dharamvir Singh helped India go past the Black Sticks to take 2-1 lead in the series.

Coming to the last match of the series, both the teams committed lots of mistakes on the ground. In the first quarter of the match, India failed to convert penalty corner into a goal, while the Kiwis missed the chance of an open goal. For India, PR Sreejesh once again proved to be a savior as he stood like a wall against the Kiwi forwards. Both the teams were 0-0 till the end of the first half.

Just before the third quarter, the Kiwi team took the lead in the match when Nick Ross did not make any mistake to convert a goal. However, India bounced back immediately as Indian forward SV Sunil converted an easy goal to make it 1-1.

In the fourth and final quarter, both team tried their best to take the lead but in vain.
After the match Indian defender VR Raghunath said, “It was a good series against the Black Sticks. We are happy that the crowd has been coming to cheer us even in New Zealand. We are looking forward to the World Hockey League final and Test series against the Australians.”

By Amar Kumar