Bichu’s late effort was described as the ‘save of the match’ by Savita.
| Photo Credit: Hockey India
It was not the way they would have wanted, but it would just be fine. They made it harder for themselves, but the Indian women survived an onslaught from England to hold on for a nervy goalless draw on Thursday and progress to the World Cup second round.
The sun, for a change, crept up over the Wagener Stadion as the Indian team basked in a rare moment of success on this stage. In a pool (D) where India (five points) was ranked the third-best side, Sjoerd Marijne’s outfit finished second behind China (seven points).
It was a superb rearguard effort from the Indian defence with England needing just one goal to break the resistance and with that, the rival’s hearts.
In the final minute, Tessa Howard struck at goal, but Bichu Devi sprung to her left to push the ball away, making India believe again. It was a remarkable save.
Her jubilant senior goalkeeping partner Savita Punia called it the “save of the match”.
Marijne celebrates the qualification with the team members.
| Photo Credit:
Hockey India
Savita did her part, too, keeping England at bay in the third quarter with two superb saves. But the European side came harder in the final 15 minutes, including removing its goalkeeper for an extra outfielder. England had 16 circle penetrations to India’s two in the second half as the latter was retreating into its own quarter of the pitch.
Nerves probably played a part and India kept making errors on the ball, allowing England to dominate possession and accumulate scoring opportunities.
Darcy Bourne and Anna Toman had eight tries from penalty corners in the second period, but India’s PC defence was superbly led by skipper Salima Tete, who rushed out to frustrate them repeatedly.
India had chances to make its life easy in the first half but Navneet Kaur and Deepika were wasteful with their finishing from short corners. Navneet fired wide from her second attempt, and became predictable with her drag-wide-and-strike approach as Miriam Pritchard guessed it right.
Ultimately, it didn’t prove costly for India. But Marijne’s side will need to do better against the Netherlands in the second-round game on Friday.
Published – August 20, 2026 10:41 pm IST
