The Indian Men's Hockey Team lost their final match of the South Africa Tour 2024 as they were thumped 5-1 by the current World number 1 side, Netherlands. The Dutch put on a sublime display to thwart the Indian side as the men in blue couldn't figure a way past the rigid and stubborn defence of Netherlands. The match at Cape Town on Sunday, January 28 marks the end of the fruitful tour as India learnt a lot in the Four Nations Tour.
The Indian side finally managed to break the Dutch resilience via a goal from Abhishek in the 39th minute but it was too late for a certain comeback as the Dutch were already 5-0 up via goals from Jip Janssen (10', 28'), Duco Telgenkamp (16'), Tjep Hoedemakers (21') and Koen Bijen (35').
The sense of urgency and desperation to grab a goal was seemingly visible on Indian player's faces but all the efforts made by them came no fruitful as Netherlands are slowly proving the likes of Belgium and Australia that they are here to stay at the number 1 ranking and stay for a very long time as the side barely shows any signs of flaws or shortcomings in theirt immensely impressive gameplay.
India's Fruitful Tour Of South Africa
India came in to their last fixture on the backs of victories against France and South Africa as they came into the fixture with two victories and one draw (against France). Though India conceded 4 within the first two quarters of the match against Netherlands, but what stood out latwer was that few bad minutes if gameplay didn;t affect India's aggressive approach and resilient defence as the side managed to grab a clean sheet in the last quarter of the match against Netherlands.