New Delhi:
Captain Surinder Kaur scored four goals as India thrashed a hapless Trinidad and Tobago 7-0 in a pool A match to stay in hunt for a semifinal spot in the women's hockey event of the Commonwealth Games here on Friday.
Surinder fired home in the eighth, 30th, 37th and 54th minute while Ritu Rani (13th), Rani Rampal (34th) and Jasjeet Kaur Handa (68th) were the other goal scorers for India.
Expectedly, Trinidad and Tobago proved to be a mismatch for the reigning silver medallist as they conceded four goals in the first half and one less in the second period.
Going by the performance of the two sides, India should have won the match by a bigger margin but poor penalty corner conversion and finishing did not help their cause.
India earned as many as 12 penalty corners in the entire 70 minutes but converted only three of them out of which two came from deflections.
Indian team was by far the better side as it dominated the match from the onset and pumped goals at will.
Indian custodian Dipika Murthy was a mere spectator as Trinidad and Tobago hardly made any penetration into their opponent's half.
Trinidad's struggle at the turf could be gauged from the fact that they got their only penalty corner of the match in the 47th minute but failed to utilise it.
India's goal rout started in the seventh minute when Surinder Kaur deflected home the ball after she was served by Jasjeet Kaur Handa.
Thereafter, India launched persistent attacks and doubled their lead in the 12th minute through Ritu Rani, who tapped in after the ball landed at her stick following a deflection.
It could have been 3-0 for India in the 16th minute but Ritu's close range scoop to the right of Trinidad goalkeeper was disallowed for dangerous play.
But an opportunistic Surinder extended India's lead in the 30th minute.
Young Rani Rampal also registered her name in the scoresheet just a minute from the breather after she was set up by a brilliant run from veteran Saba Anjum.
The second half was, however, a little dampener for the Indian eves as they could only manage two goals, courtesy Surinder, inspite of numerous chances.
Surinder slammed home her third goal of the match just two minutes after the change of ends from the top of the circle after a Trinidad defender failed to stop a pass.
Surinder scored another in the 54th minute, deflecting the ball in from India's 10th penalty corner. India made a series of attempts in the final 10 minutes of the match, only to see their forwardline fumbling at the crucial moments.
Jasjeet, however, completed the scoreline two minutes from the hooter, converting India's 12th and last short corner.
India will next face South Africa in their must-win final pool match tomorrow.
Although he was not satisfied with today's performance, India coach Sandeep Somesh hoped that his girls can upstage South Africa in their do-or-die match.
"I am not satisfied with the performance. We didn't get enough goals. Our target was 13-14 goals. But we are confident of beating South Africa. We had beaten them at World Cup," Somesh said at the post-match press conference.
"We are playing better than World Cup. So, we need to pull our game up."
Stating that the 1-1 draw against minnows Scotland was a big disappointment for the home team, Somesh said the team badly needs a good drag-flicker.
"Scotland match was a dampener. But overall, we wasted plenty of penalty corners. We need a penalty corner specialist and our variation need perfection," the coach said.
India captain Surinder Kaur also admitted that her team was far from impressive in the tournament.
"We are not playing our best hockey but we don't know the reason. Our penalty corner conversion is also a big problem. We need to win by a big margin against South Africa," she said.