Ranchi: Uttar Pradesh Wizards twice came from behind to stun defending champions Ranchi Rhinos 3-2 in their opening match of the Hero Hockey India League here on Sunday.
It was the hosts who took the lead in the fourth minute through their star striker Mandeep Singh who found himself at the right place at the right time to slot the ball home.
The Rhinos were the aggressive among the two sides and controlled the proceedings in the early part of the match. But Uttar Pradesh Wizards did not sit back and equalised in the 10th minute through Nikkin Thimmaiah who deflected home after trapping the ball at the goalmouth.
The Wizards got a golden opportunity to take the lead minutes later from their first penalty corner but Francisco Cortes came up with a fine save to deny captain V R Raghunath and both the teams ended the first quarter of 17-and-a-half minutes tied at 1-1.
In the second quarter, both the teams tried hard and were able to create a few bright opportunities but they failed to convert the chances and they went into the halftime locked at one-goal apiece. The break seemed to have worked wonders for the Wizards as they looked more purposeful and threatened the Ranchi goal with constant raids.
But it was the Rhinos who once again surged ahead when Justin Reid Ross beautifully converted their second penalty corner to the left of Wizards' Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam in the 46th minute. However, it did not take long for the Wizards to draw level for the second time in the match. V R Raghunath (51st minute) precisely executed a penalty corner five minutes later to the level the score at 2-2.
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