India will face New Zealand in the crossover on Sunday. Wales will go back home with their heads held high. 

A penalty corner, Harmanpreet on the drag flick and a goal at last for him. If this leads to him finding form, it is a major positive for India to take from this match. Final minute of the match this and so, India are definitely going to play the crossover now. 

56 mins: They are attacking whenever they get a chance and gave India some worries after the ball came in from the right. It is somehow cleared by the hosts.  

54 mins: A shot from Abhishek goes into goal but it seems to have gone off the body of some player on the way. It goes into goal but the umpire has gone upstairs. It is ruled out. India 3-2 Wales. 

Big chance for India wasted away. Mandeep races forward, squares it to Sukhjeet who is in acres of space but with the keeper right in front of him, he hits it straight into him. That should have been a goal. 

45 mins: A nice interchange between Akashdeep and Sukhjeet on the right and the former then smashes it in. India’s lead restored.  

An extraordinary fightback from Wales, the Kalinga stadium has been silenced and everyone except a tiny pocket of Welsh fans have long faces or stunned smiles. In all probability, India will be playing New Zealand in the crossover on Sunday. 

44 mins: Another PC for Wales, Furlong’s flick is saved quite sensationally by Sreejesh. But then it comes to Jacob Draper who had pushed the PC in and he smashes it in at an angle. Wales have equalised. Who woulda thunk, eh?

42 mins: Well that wasn’t in the script was it? PC for Wales and Gareth Furlong converts it emphatically. India’s lead halved, they will now have to score seven more goals to pip England. Gareth Furlong is the first player to score a World Cup goal for Wales. 

India play a double battery and the ball is pushed to Amit Rohidas, whose flick is easily dealt with. Wales had appealed against this PC and they lost a referral but India need to somehow convert these. 

Mandeep not allowed to enter the circle as Draper maneouvres him to the left before putting in the tackle and taking the ball. Mandeep appeals but there wasn’t much in it and the Indian himself doesn’t push his case. 

Penalty corner for India and they try a variation. Varun Kumar takes but his flick is a weak one.  

32 mins: That’s a field goal to boot. A penalty corner for Wales that India defend and then India race forward. A neat one-two beween Mandeep and Akashdeep and the latter then scores into the bottom right. 

Pushback for the second half. Quite an exciting half of hockey coming up!

The numbers show that India have been dominant and yet, Wales would be happy about how they have held up thus far. India have made 12 circle penetrations to Wales’ 5, they have had 4 shots while Wales have had none and India have had 82 percent possession in the opposition half. 

That was a sensational shot from Shamsher to score India’s first goal but the fact remains that Wales, especially their keeper, seemed to have switched off after Harmanpreet’s drag was blocked off. India have been the dominant side but Wales have had some half chances themselves. Eight goals are still on but six field goals look quite unlikely indeed considering how Wales are putting numbers in defence. 

James Carson makes his way into the circle and then takes a rather poor shot. India then stream forward Mandeep pulls it into the empty cricle and Welsh keeper Reynolds-Cotterill emphatically kicks the ball out of his area. 

21 mins: Harmanpreet’s drag flick is blocked by a charger, Shamsher receives it, makes his way into the circle and then shoots from the edge of it. It lasers into goal and India lead 1-0. Seven more to go…

Mandeep brought down inside the circle as he tries to get to a pass. LEt’s see if India can make something out of this. 

Some big cheers as Vivek Sagar Prasad shoots from miles out and it clatters into goal. No touches inside the circle though and so it is not a goal. Wales will be pretty happy with how things are going so far. They even have much more of the ball in this quarter than they did in the last. 

16 mins: Abhishek fights hard with a crowd of black shirts surrounding him and eventually wins a penalty corner. However, Harmanpreet could not pick up the drag, it comes out to Manpreet who takes the shot and that is blocked away. Harmanpreet’s poor form on the drag flick continues. 

Right then, can India find a few goals here. That is the only way they can hope to get to that magic number of eight.  

India have had far more circle penetrations, as one would expect, but Wales would be happier of the two sides. Their defence has held up well. 

India go on the counter at the end of which Mandeep and Akashdeep both take shots but they are blocked by the Welsh keeper. 

13 mins: Rhodri with a cutback from the right accross the face of goal. Any kind of stick on that pass would have put Sreejesh’s goal in danger. A close call for India.  

8 mins gone: First real shot from India is quite an improbable one. Nilakanta tries one from the edge of the D and that is always easy for keepers to save. It is kept out. Shamsher Khan was in front of him in acres of space and in a better shooting position so not a great decision there from Nilakanta. 

Harmanpreet works the ball down the right, cuts in and gets it to Abhishek inside the D. However, the latter is crowded out. India will have to really work to find field goals today, the Welsh have shut up shop. 

India have not exactly hounded Wales in these early minutes. Akashdeep made some inroads through the left, showing some brilliant 3D skills but he is crowded out. 

We have pushback at the Kalinga Stadium, India attacking from right to left. India 8 goals away. 

First comes Wales’ ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ and then hosts India’s ‘Jana Gana Mana’. After that the players go their respective sides on the pitch. 

Right here they are, the two sets of players walk out. Remember, India need to win by at least 8 goals to gain automatic qualification to the quarterfinals. 

Sreejesh, Mandeep, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet, Surender, Varun Kumar, Shamsher, Manpreet, Akashdeep, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Sukhjeet Singh.

Subs: Jarmanpreet, Abhishek, Hardik, Pathak, Lalit, Nilam, Nilakanta. 

Hardik Singh had pulled up injured in India’s previous match against England. However, he is included in the 18 today. Likelihood of him playing remains low though, he is on the pitch with the rest of his teammates but is not carrying a stick.  

India need to win by a goal difference of eight. If they win by seven goals, six of those have to be field goals. If they win by seven goals and five of those are field goals, there will be a shootout between them and England. 

Wow, England have taken Spain apart in this game and it will now take a pretty seismic performance from the Indians for them to pip England. However, it is not impossible. India are a vastly superior team to Wales, they have all five games between the two sides thus far. 

This is now slowly starting to look improbable even before India start playing. Ansell Liam has scored almost immediately after Bandurak and England lead 4-0. India now need to score 8 goals to secure automatic qualification. If India win 7-0, they will be level on goal difference with England but the Indians would then need 6 of those to be field goals to pip them.  

Nick Bandurak has scored scored England’s third of the night and now India need to win by 7 against Wales to go through and there is every possibility of England scoring more with just under nine minutes left in this match.

The Kalinga Stadium is slowly filling up and the crowd understands that the more England score, the steeper India’s task becomes. They are hence cheering whatever Spain do but the latter are not getting too much to do. England rampant. 

India started off by beating Spain 2-0. Their second match was what has to be one of the most thrilling 0-0 draws of all time against England. Both those games were played in Rourkela and this is the first match of this tournament that they are playing in Bhubaneswar.

Englanda have taken a 2-0 lead over Spain in the second quarter and that means that India now need to score 6 against Wales, while not conceding any goals of course, to secure an automatic quarter-final spot. 

The Indian captain is recognised as among the best drag flickers in the world but is yet to really get going in this tournament. 

They lead Spain 1-0 now and that means that as it stands, India will have to win 5-0 at least to stand a chance at pipping England.  

The game has begun and there have been no goals yet. Spain have had the lion’s share of possession. 

If India finish second today, they would face New Zealand in the crossover. If they finish third, which is possible if Spain beat England and India lose to Wales, they would be facing Malaysia. 

India will then have to go to the quarter-finals through the crossovers. The teams finishing second and third will face those that finish third and second respectively in Pool C. 

England are currently sitting on top on a win and a draw. India are second with a win and a draw as well. England are ahead of India on the basis of their goal difference – India have a goal difference of two while England have five. Meanwhile, Spain are third on three points with a goal difference of two. Wales are rock bottom on zero points and a goal difference of -9.

We are at that stage of the pool games where permutations and combinations come into play. The simplest one is this, India need to beat Wales to stand a chance at securing an automatic qualification spot to the quarter-finals. If England win against Spain, India will then have to beat Wales by a certain number of goals to pip England on goal difference and secure the automatic qualification spot. For it is only the team that finishes top of their pool that go through to the quarter-finals without having to play any of those pesky crossovers. This is going to be a fascinating evening, come along!