Bengaluru HA pulled off an improbable 4-3 victory over Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in a Pool A contest of the 91st MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup all-India hockey tournament here on Sunday.
Earlier, Army XI, comprising mostly first-timers, posted its first win in three matches, a 2-1 win over Central Secretariat in Pool B.
Trailing 1-2, Bengaluru was saved by V.R. Raghunath. The 28-year-old drag-flick specialist converted two penalty corners in a span of three minutes to bring his team back into contention.
Bengaluru continued attacking, and V.S. Vinaya's well-angled scoop saw Bijju Yirkal tapping home.
It was BPCL which opened the account through Imran Khan early in the first session.
For a while in the second half, the battle looked neck and neck as both teams made earnest attempts to score. Rajkumar Pal cashed in on a goalmouth melee to equalise, but the credit should go to Jenjen Singh who dodged past a defender to send in the assist.
A wonderful run-in by Tushar Khandker from the centre saw Jarnail Singh slotting in. BPCL then conceded three penalty corners in five minutes, and Raghunath did the rest.
It can be argued that Army was a tad lucky against Central Secretariat. Machaiah struck firmly with a minute remaining, thanks to a defensive blunder by Vinayak Bijawad.
The results: Pool A: Bengaluru HA 4 (Rajkumar Pal 42, V.R. Raghunath 56 & 61, Bijju Yirkal 63) bt BPCL 3 (Imran Khan 15, Jarnail Singh 51, Anand Rai 57).
Pool B: PNB 6 (Gagandeep Singh 9 & 53, Hardeep Singh 10, Gurjinder Singh 16 & 30, Sumit Toppo 54) bt Odisha 2 (Ashish Topno 34, Manip Kerketta 38); Army XI 2 (A.P. Siraju 10, B.B. Machaiah 69) bt Central Secretariat 1 (S. Sivamani 33).
