Although there is a saying that attack is the best defence, but after what happened in the match between India and Great Britain on Sunday, the saying will have to be reversed. Now you can say that defence is the best attack. The whole story of the quarter-final match is around this one sentence. Amit Rohidas was shown a red card in the 17th minute of the match. After this, the Indian team showed excellent defence throughout the match. In the 22nd minute, Harmanpreet Singh opened India's account by scoring a goal. But after five minutes, Lee Morton scored a goal for Great Britain and brought the score to a draw. After this draw, the Great Britain team was seen in the Indian half most of the time. The Great Britain team, which came to play the match in red jerseys, was 'over attacking'. They also knew that their opponent team was one player short. On a few occasions in the last two halves, the Indian team was seen in the Great Britain half.

To be honest, this was demoralizing. You were only able to reach the opponent's D on a few occasions, but then this is not a win, it is a super win. It seemed as if the Indian team had decided that if we cannot score, we will not concede. And a team that has a goalkeeper like PR Sreejesh could not have made any other strategy. In the last two halves, the threat of scoring a goal from Great Britain was constantly looming but the Indian players did not lose courage. In the end, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. As soon as the time ended on this scoreline, the faces of the Indian players lit up. They had achieved a great success.

Why were the Indian players happy with the score of 1-1?

When the Great Britain team could not score more than 1 goal in the stipulated time, there was a smile on the faces of the Indian players. There were two reasons behind this smile. Firstly, the determination of the players to not let any goal be scored was fulfilled. In hockey or football, it is not easy to play and win more than half the match without a player. Let us assume for a second that if the Indian team had lost this match 2-1 or 3-1, then it had a very easy excuse that we were playing with 10 players. The fans would have also digested this. But the team had decided something else. Especially after defeating Australia in the last match, no one wanted the team's enthusiasm to end with defeat. That is why the strategy of 'we will give our lives but will not concede a goal' worked.

Now know the other reason behind the smile. The team which has a goalkeeper like PR Sreejesh always finds itself in a better position in the shootout. PR Sreejesh was sitting with the essence of his two decades of experience. He has also announced his retirement after this Olympics. After this historic victory, he was saying that I was thinking whether I am going to play my last match today. Then I decided that I still have to play more matches in the Paris Olympics. It is the result of his strong resolve that he will play at least one more match. Former hockey captain Viren Rasquinha was saying after watching the match that PR Sreejesh is the 'God of the goalpost'.

Indian players made their mark in the shoot-out

Let's talk about the first two goals of Great Britain in the shootout. In both these goals, PR Sreejesh had read the mind of the player. He jumped in the same direction in which the goal was scored. But the ball managed to dodge his body. For the third time, he made the Great Britain player commit a mistake. Who hit the ball outside the post. The fourth hit was stopped by PR Sreejesh. Now remember the shootout of the Indian players. The Indian players showed amazing skill. The Indian players showed how a big player tricks the goalkeeper of the opposing team in the shootout, how he makes him dance. Harmanpreet Singh made the goalkeeper of Great Britain dance. It seemed as if he was making the English letter J with his stick. After Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet took the second hit. He also tricked the goalkeeper of Great Britain with his skill.

Lalit took the third hit and Rajkumar took the fourth. In a game like hockey, there are many aspects like speed, stamina, i.e. strength, but the most fun is in watching the skill. India's traditional hockey skill was visible in both the last hits. Where after dodging the goalkeeper, the ball was directed towards the goalpost. India had finished on the podium by winning the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics. This time, after the defeat to Belgium, this hope got a slight setback. But after defeating Australia in the last match and Great Britain in this match, the Indian team will dream of changing the color of the medal along with the podium finish. They also have the right to dream this.