India take aerial route to title clash

The hosts routed defensive China 7-0 in the last Super 4s tie, will face South Korea in the Asia Cup final

- Sandip Sikdar

Almost immediately after pushback, India skipper Harmanpreet Singh launched a long aerial ball from deep in defence to an unmarked Jar-manpreet Singh in the Chinese D.

The defender collected the ball before pushing it to an unmarked Shilanand Lakra, who pushed it past goalkeeper Wang Weihao for the home team’s first goal in the final Super 4 Asia Cup tie.

The intent was clear from the start. To counter China's deep defence and interception of the short passes, the Indian hockey team went all out with an aerial game, which flummoxed the world No.22 unit as the hosts handed a 7-0 hammering.

Lakra (4th), Dilpreet Singh (7th), Mandeep Singh (18th), Raj Kumar Pal (37th), Sukhjeet Singh (39th) and Abhishek (46th, 50th) all scored as world No.7 India flew into Sunday's final where they will take on defending champions South Korea.