Picture Credit: Twitter
India thrashed Indonesia 16-0 in their Asia Cup match on Thursday. It was complete dominance from the Men in Blue as they never allowed Indonesia to go past their defense. Dispan Tirkey stole the show with five goals in the match with the help of a hat-trick. With this thumping win over Indonesia, India booked a spot in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2022.
This was India's first win in the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup; they were forced to a 1-1 draw by Pakistan before being defeated 2-5 by Japan, who finished first in Pool A. Japan won all of their three matches in the pool. While Pakistan lost to Japan 2-3 in their second game.
Thus, India started the game with a big target of beating Indonesia by a goal margin of at least 15 goals to pip Pakistan in Pool A standings and qualify for the next round. Pawan Rajbhar opened the scoring for India as he went past Indonesia's defense in the 9th minute of the play. He doubled the lead a minute later.
Uttam Singh, then, scored in the 13th minute to give India a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. SV Sunil extended India's margin with a penalty corner shortly after the resumption, before Nilam Sanjeep's brilliant drag-flick gave the side a 5-0 lead in the game. Sunil chipped in with his second goal of the match to end the second quarter with India leading 6-0.
Although India had a hefty lead over Indonesia, they were still nine goals short of the target. The third quarter began with India going on an all-out attack. Karthi Selvam finally broke the deadlock and then Dispan Tirkey scored in the 41st minute to further extend the lead.
India's goal score went into double figures as Abharan Sudev scored in the 43rd minute. Tirkey then bagged two goals to take the lead to 12-0 before Sudev slotted in another goal in the 54th minute. The final nail in the coffin was also put by Dispan who scored the 15th goal followed by another one in the next minute.