Adelaide, Dec 3: India made a promising start by taking a first-half lead but its defence fell apart later as the team lost the fourth hockey Test 1-5 to Australia and conceded an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, here on Saturday.
The final match of the series will be played on Sunday. India had won the third match after losing the first two contests.
Comeback man Dilpreet Singh (25th minute) struck early to give India the lead after a resolute defensive display by Harmanpreet and Co. in a goalless first quarter.
But India’s defence crumbled towards the fag end of second quarter with Jeremy Hayward (29th minute) and Jake Whetton (30th minute) scoring in space of 50 seconds. Tom Wickham (34th minute) extended the Kookaburras lead, before Hayward completed his brace (41st minute) .
Matt Dawson entered the scoresheet in the 54th minute with a low volley strike that went past Krishan Pathak.
Pathak, who came in place of the seasoned Sreejesh, however made some creditable saves to save India from more humiliation.
On a sultry afternoon, the hosts fired in all cylinders with Harvey creating some splendid raids from the midfield.
But the world No. 1 team struggled to breach a resolute Indian defence, which was held firmly by Sreejesh during a goalless first quarter.
Pathak came out with flying colours and made a splendid save in the second quarter to keep Nathan Ephraums at bay.
It seemed India could level the series when Dilpreet struck a brilliant goal to hand them the lead against the run of play.
But India’s lead lasted for about less than five minutes with player-of-the-match Hayward bringing up the equaliser with a superbly placed drag-flick.
From being 0-1 down, the world number one went 2-1 up in the blink of an eye when Whetton struck off a Jack Welch assist, showing his poaching skill.
It seemed to be the turning point as Indian defence soon went on to lose their speed and energy with the home side piling more pressure.
The likes of Harmanpreet, Hardik Singh and Nilakanta Sharma impressed and created opportunities for the visitors but were not able to find the target and match their heavyweight rivals. (PTI)
