Indian Oil no match for fleet-footed BPCL

Indian Oil, a dominant force prior to the final, were not even half as impressive and were completely outplayed by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 2-0, reports Sahil Sharma.

The final of the 19th Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament proved to be a major disappointment. Indian Oil, a dominant force prior to the final, were not even half as impressive and were completely outplayed by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 2-0.

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The scoreline wasn't an indicator of BPCL's domination as Indian Oil were outclassed in all departments. BPCL took control of the midfield early on with veteran Sabu Varkey providing some precision passes in the box. Hari Prasad pounced on one such pass in the 17th minute to give BPCL the much-deserved lead.

Indian Oil failed to recover and from there on, losing possession in the midfield and failing to finish off moves became a feature. Worse was in store as they were reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when as Jaknail Singh received a yellow card for deliberate obstruction.

BPCL could have won by a much bigger margin had it not been for the heroics of Indian Oil goalkeeper Baljit Singh. One such save came in the 30th minute, when he blocked a certain goal from Amar Ayamma.

In the second half, Indian Oil did provide some moments of brilliance. In the 41st minute, Prabhjot Singh fed Rajpal Singh with a precision pass and it required a diving effort from the BPCL keeper to prevent the equaliser.

In the 56th minute, BPCL took the game beyond Indian Oil's reach when Amar Ayamma sent in a Tushar Khandekar pass. Ayamma was also adjourned the player of the tournament for his consistent display.