Rani Rampal scored a goal in India’s 5-1 victory over South Africa in the first Test of the four-match series, making an impressive return to the Indian national team.
Rani Rampal scored a goal in India’s 5-1 victory over South Africa in the first Test of the four-match series, making an impressive return to the Indian national team.
Four goals from Monika (20th), Navneet Kaur (24th), Gurjit Kaur (25th), and Sangita Kumari (30th) gave India a 5-0 lead at the half. Rani, the team’s former captain, made her debut in the FIH Women’s Hockey Pro League 2021-22 for the first time since the match against Belgium in June.
Quanita Bobbs, captain of South Africa, scored the game-winning goal in the 44th minute.
Vaishnavi Phalke, a midfielder, made her senior debut on Monday. Last year, she led the Indian junior team to victory at the Uniphar U-23 five-nations tournament. The second match will be played late on Tuesday night.
South Africa was forced back into their own half as a result of India’s aggressive start in the first quarter. Rani scored from a penalty corner to give them the lead.
The Indians appeared even more brutal and perilous as the second quarter began.
After a brilliant team move, Monika scored in the 20th minute, and Navneet calmly scored four minutes later to make it 3-0 India. The visitors quickly scored four more goals after gaining a lot of possession. As the South Africans struggled to gain any traction in the game, drag flicker Gurjit converted a penalty stroke one minute later.
From a penalty corner, Sangita skillfully deflected the ball into the net just before halftime. India continued to look for more goals after the ends were switched, but the visitors were unable to score despite constant pressure on the South African defense.
Bobbs’ goal from a penalty corner gave South Africa a chance to win.
Despite what appeared to be self-assurance and risk, India maintained a sizeable enough lead to easily win the fourth and final quarter.