The Indian men's hockey team will hope to begin their second round of the FIH World Cup on a positive note as they take on Netherlands at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen on Saturday.
India qualified to the second round of the group stage after finishing second in their Pool behind England. They started off by beating Wales 3-1 before losing their match against England 4-2. They made it to the next round after beating Pakistan 5-3.
Since England beat India in their group stage game, they will carry all three points from the game to this second round. Therefore, a loss today against the Dutch will make qualification to semifinals more tougher. After the match against the Netherlands, India will face Argentina who finished second in their Pool A behind the home nation.
The Netherlands haven't suffered a defeat yet in the tournament. They are in superb form, beating the likes of New Zealand, Argentina and Japan in their previous round. They scored 12 goals from the three games while conceding just three.
The home team will be the favourites against India who will want to improve their defence. Craig Fulton's side conceded eight goals in three games and will seek improvement at the back.
The good news for the team is that their star scorer and captain Harmanpreet Singh is showing good form. He has scored five goals, all from penalty corners, and is leading the scoring charts along with Belgium's Tom Boon and South Africa's Mustaphaa Cassiem, who also scored five.
When it comes to field goals, Abhishek will be the key. He scored a brace against Pakistan and will want to carry the form in the match against the Dutch as well.
The match will start at 7:30 p.m. IST.
You can follow the match on our live blog below: