Jugraj Singh scored four goals as the Indian men's hockey team thrashed Canada 14-3 in a high-scoring encounter to top the pool standings and enter the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Saturday.
Having lost only to Belgium by a goal earlier in the tournament, India were upbeat after a sensational 3-2 win against New Zealand in their previous game.
India will play Belgium in the summit clash on Sunday.
The match began with an early goal by Nilakanta Sharma in the fourth minute, followed by a 10th-minute strike by Rajinder Singh, who has been in good nick since his debut in the senior side.
It was a thrilling start, with Canada responding to the early goals by creating PCs and even converting from them. In the 11th minute, Brendan Guraliuk converted a fine penalty corner.
Two more goals were scored in the following minutes through Jugraj Singh and Amit Rohidas in the 12th and 15th minutes, respectively. The 4-1 lead put India in good stead to build on their performance in the second quarter. With senior stars rested for this tournament, the onus to outshine was on the younger lot, and they did well to hold off pressure from the Canadian defence.
A flurry of goals continued in this quarter, with Rajinder scoring in the 24th minute, Dilpreet Singh in the 25th, and Jugraj scoring his second goal in the 26th minute.
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Ahead by 7-1, India were unstoppable, but Canada came into the third quarter with slight modifications in their attack, which led to a penalty stroke in the 35th minute. Matthew Sarmento made no mistake in pumping this one into the post to take the scoreline to 7-2.
Meanwhile, Jugraj completed his hat-trick in this quarter when he struck in the 39th minute, and Selvam Karthi scored in the 43rd minute to extend India's lead to a massive 9-2.
The final quarter was largely a formality, but this is where the maximum goals came, with both teams upping the ante. Six goals were scored in this quarter.
It began with Rohidas's PC conversion in the 46th minute, followed by Jugraj's penalty stroke conversion in the 50th minute.
Both teams continued to trade PCs, and Canada ended up scoring from one too, with Jyothswaroop Sidhu’s goal taking the scoreline to 3-11.
Sanjay put his name on the scoresheet with a penalty stroke conversion in the 56th minute, while Abhishek scored a double in the 57th and 59th minutes to end the proceedings on a high.
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