The last action zeroes

The Indians were leading 3-0 at that time — the official clock wasn’t functioning due to a technical snag. It added to the chaos and India’s full-back Dilip Tirkey, who had stood like a wall so far, had to be frequently substituted for a cramp. Thereafter, the Dutch came rushing in like waves and in clockwise precision.

Here, how it all happened. 63rd minute: 1-3 (reverse hit from Rob Recekers); match still in India’s grip. 64th minute: 2-3 (Taeke Taekama struck after missing two PCs earlier) and 68th minute: 3-3 Floris Evers’s deflection enters the goalline as Baljit Saini protests with the umpire. And two minutes later, the match is over for India as Ronald Brouwer sounded the death-knell from a counter-attack.

Even Dutch coach Joost Bellaart did not like the result of the match. He said: ‘‘We were paralysed for too long and I do not like such a win for my team.’’ However, the Indians could not explain why they failed to tighten the noose around the Dutch when the situation demanded. Indian coach Rajinder Singh could hardly throw any fresh light on the problem. His simple explanation was: ‘‘The situation was like that and it could happen to any team.’’

The Indians disputed the third goal with English umpire Stephen Brooks and in return Indian skipper Dhanraj Pillay earned a yellow card for leading the protest. That also added to their lapse of concentration and the Dutch responded superbly to the wake-up call. Pillay, a veteran of over 300 internationals should have led by example and helped India split points. But the Indians succumbed to pressure once again in the dying moments.

In the past one year, India had lost to Germany, allowed Holland to draw, lost to Pakistan in playoff — all at the 2002 Champions trophy. At Busan, they had lost their title to Korea in a similar fashion. Pillay agreed: ‘‘We played good for 60 minutes and succumbed.’’ Surely, the think-tank had not taught the players how to close a match after being on top. But former German coach Horst Wein, put it aptly: ‘‘India perhaps thought it had already won the match.’’

Dutch skipper Jeroen Delmee, however, praised the Indians saying that they were the better team on the day but luck favoured his team. ‘‘In my 10 years of international hockey, I have never played such a match. Their defence was good and cramped us totally. We were lucky in the end.’’

But for the Indian fans, that is hardly a consolation.