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During the recent hockey World Cup, eventual champions Australia had thrashed India 5-2, exposing the gap between the two teams.On Monday, it was sweet revenge for the Indians, who beat the world champions 4-3 in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Kuala Lumpur. It was fitting, perhaps, that the winner came from Shivendra Singh, who was missed the most in that World Cup clash following a two-match ban.For once, India who set the pace, dictated the terms, and controlled the game. Shivendra and Tushar Khandker — back in the attack after spending time as a linkman for a while — showed their excellent understanding and coordination again. They created several scoring chances inside the circle, exchanged the flanks with abandon and set up set-pieces that went waste.With Arjun Halappa marshalling the midfield, there was no shortage of balls upfront. The most experienced player in the squad, Halappa not only ensured the forwards were kept busy inside the circle but also fell back to shore up the defence."It was a great game, attacking all through," coach Harendra Singh said. "The way both teams played, there were enough chances for either side. But we managed to capitalise on our chances and our defence, especially the goalkeeper (P R Sreejesh), were brilliant."Australia began like they always do — attacking but while the first five minutes tested India, the defending champions managed to hold fort with some luck. Thereafter, the team slowly built up the tempo, and soon took control.With superior ball possession, using the entire width of the field to keep both flanks open with speedy runs and a controlling midfield led by Halappa, India were soon in the attack mode, and made several forays into the Australian circle without result.But the repeated attacks managed to open up the opposition defence.Tushar Khandker scored the opening goal in the 19th minute, followed two minutes later by captain Rajpal Singh, who doubled the lead, with Halappa and Danish Mujtaba doing the ground work.Khandker's goal in the 32nd minute was created by Mandeep Antil, the junior player from Haryana who has now come into his own in the tournament.India went into the break with a three-goal cushion going into the second half — not seen every day against Australia.Australia slammed in two quick goals in as many minutes — through Trent Milton and Christopher Criello's penalty corner conversion — as India took time to warm up after the break.But as India regained control, and things got tight, the Australians began to get desperate on field, earning suspensions. Shivendra increased the lead in the 61st minute, again after a brilliant combination play with Khandker.That did not slow the Australian attacks, though, and Mark Paterson reduced the margin with 33 seconds left on the clock.While it was India's first victory over Australia in seven years — their last victory came on the 2002-03 tour Down Under — only four players in the Australian squad were part of the World Cup campaign and the team is clearly using this stage to test its development squad.That, however, did not matter to coach Harendra. He said: "I had said even during Punjab Gold Cup that the Dutch and German squads were the same that would play the World Cup, but no one cared. This time, I can safely say that this Australian squad will not only form the bulk of the Commonwealth Games team but also the 2012 Olympics, and maybe even the 2014 World Cup."So they are not to be taken lightly."
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