Dynamos cut Hi-Fliers’ flight short

On Sunday, Bangalore Hi-Fliers’ captain Tushar Khandekar had commented...

On Sunday, Bangalore Hi-Fliers’ captain Tushar Khandekar had commented on the importance of converting half chances. On Monday, as Chandigarh Dynamos cruised to a 3-2 win over Khandekar’s team in the first of the best-of-three finals of the Premier Hockey League, Khandekar must have been left wondering about exactly those lost chances by his team in the action-packed encounter.

In a match whose pace was set right from the start, Dynamos were the more methodic. They worked out their patterns with Rajpal Singh and Deepak Thakur being the primary creators in the absence of their star forward Prabhjot Singh. And they were rewarded early. A dazzling strike by Sher Singh off a Sandeep Singh free hit in just the second minute of the game put the Dynamos into an early lead. That was followed by a brilliant save by Hi-Fliers goalkeeper Bharath Kumar just five minutes later.

An attacking forward line, combined with some individual brilliance from Dynamos skipper Rajpal Singh meant the Dynamos were always a threat. And when Rajpal doubled the lead through a striking backhand after dribbling past a couple of defenders, it only firmed their grip on the game.

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Hi-Fliers then shot back through an outstanding run by Vinaya and Arjun Halappa, with Khandekar setting it up for Sandeep Michael in the penalty area in 13th minute.

Dynamos looked to be taking control of the match in the second quarter. While Thakur and Rajpal were handling the attacks, the mid-field, marshaled by Ghazanfar Ali and Zeeshan Ashraf, kept feeding them. The Hi-Fliers frontline was always kept away from gaining any advantage.

Thakur soon struck again, scoring the third goal for Dynamos after accepting a measured centre inside the 25-yard circle from Rajpal.

There was a notable spark in the Hi-Fliers approach in the last quarter, largely on the promptings by You Hyo Sik along with skipper Khandekar and Halappa and they got five penalty corners in the last 12 minutes of the game. But as drag-flick expert Len Aiyappa kept missing the mark, they lost the short-lived momentum. Dynamos goalkeeper Baljit Singh made a brilliant save off an Aiyappa shot in the 66th minute just before Hari Prasad scored the second goal for Hi-Fliers with the ball taking a deflection off Dynamos defender Zeeshan Ashraf in the 68th minute.