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Journalism of Courage
Hosts put new coachs training in practice,play team game to win with a 99-42 margin
After four weeks of training the national camp at the IG Stadium,newly appointed coach Kenny Natt had said that he was eager to see his team execute his guidelines. While he had made his team work hard,a competitive match would be a better barometer of progress than indoor practice,he had said. Natt couldnt have asked for a better start by the Indian mens team. On the first day of the Middle Asia Zone qualifying matches held at the Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi,India had a dominating first quarter that set the tone for a huge 99-42 win over a hapless Sri Lanka son Wednesday.
That Sri Lanka would turn out the weaker side was apparent even before the match started as during the introductions one could notice that they were dwarfed by their far taller rivals,not only in height but in confidence. On the eve of the match,Natt said that he wanted the team to play good defence and success in offense would only follow. His team did exactly that.
Sri Lanka were unable to find the basket with any consistency in the first quarter,committing several turnovers and the Indians capitalised scoring easy fast-break points taking the first quarter by a massive 32-5 margin.
However,the scoring tapered off in the final quarter and thats where India missed the trick in deepening the margin gulf after a strong first quarter. Leading 86-34 at the start of the last quarter,India scored only 13 points in the final ten minutes. Amidst some careless play from the hosts,Sri Lanka enjoyed their most even quarter,scoring 8 points and even managed to prevent India from reaching three digits with some scrappy defense in the final seconds.
Perhaps one of the reasons India stepped off the pedal was because of Natts strategy of playing his entire 12-man squad. With the game becoming a rout early on,Natt brought on young big men Satnam Singh Bhamara,Amritpal Singh and Amjyot Singh,who scored 6,12 and 8 points respectively. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi led all scorers with 16 points,while Jagdeep Singh and Prakash Mishra added 15 each. India were especially lethal from the three-point line,hitting 9 of 18 shots (an incredible 50 percent) from long range. Natt would also have been impressed with his squads teamwork,with a number of baskets coming through unselfish play,leading to a high number of assists (25). India has now topped Group A and will play whoever finishes 2nd in Group B on Thursday.
Earlier on Wednesday,Bhutan and Nepal played in a Group B clash that saw Nepal get on a quick start and cruise to a 79-53 victory. Nepal was led by 21 points by Sadish Pradhan and 18 points and 9 rebounds by Byangankar (Sr.) In another Group B clash Bangladesh beat Bhutan 92 -59.
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