Wizards ready for Chennai

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Delhi Wizards have warmed up for the challenge of an away match against Chennai Cheetahs on Wednesday in great style.

The Wizards, who were just above Mumbai Marines on the eight-team World Series Hockey table, demolished Pune Strykers 6-2 on Monday.

The result has boosted Delhi’s semifinal chances. If the Wizards are able to put it across Chennai at the MRK Stadium, they will be back in contention for the next round. For Chennai, on the other hand, a defeat will certainly rule them out of the semifinals.

The WSH has conclusively proved that it would be a grave mistake to rule out comebacks. After Karnataka Lions’ fairy tale return to the top half of the table, the latest team to stage a stirring rally is Delhi Wizards.

The Wizards seems to have saved their best performance for the final leg of the inaugural World Series Hockey as they mercilessly thrashed semifinal contenders, Pune Strykers.

An avid hockey fan had waited so long to witness players of the calibre of Rajpal Singh, Pakis-tani import Shakeel Abassi and talented youngsters such as Vikramjeet Singh, Upendra Pillay and Victo Singh, to showcase their wares finally.

Displaying dazzling hockey, inspired by captain Abbasi’s individual brilliance, a completely transformed Wizards kept their semifinal chances alive with a sterling performance in do-or-die battle against Strykers.

The Wizards achieved their mission with clinical precision through their frontline trio of Abbasi, Philip Sunkel and Victo Singh, who were firing all cylinders. On the other jand, defender Bikramjeet Singh, charger Jaswinder Singh and goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh ensured the safety of their net. Like drag-flicker Imran Warsi in the other match of the day, Strykers’ PC expert Gurpreet Singh had an off day, failing to strike in seven penalty corners, which proved to be the hosts’ undoing in this crucial tie.

Ironically, the Strykers were first off the blocks in the match. Mario Almada tapped in a slow feed to stun the Wizards in the very second minute but his team couldn’t hold on to the initial enthusiasm. The early setback seemed to have brought out the best from the Wizards as they managed to find the target from the most difficult angles and unimaginable moves.

The gangling youngster Upendra Pillay launched the blitzkrieg in the final minutes of the first quarter. Pillay fell in his effort to trap a parallel pass from Victo Singh but retrieved it quickly to put the stick in the right angle and deflect the ball home, much to the frustration of goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh.

Then, German import Philip Sunkel showed his class to infuse life into the Wizards rank. He took a strong forehand from the right of circle, which Shakeel Abbasi, playing his best hockey in the league so far, dived to see it home and excitedly threw his hands up in celebration.

Bikramjeet Singh tested the roof of the net twice in the 28th and 41st minutes. In between, Victo Singh entered his name on the scoreboard and returned to strike another with seven minutes left for the hooter. Vikas Pillay converted a penalty strike to increase the Strykers tally, but the hosts had clearly failed to counter the numbers game this time.