WHIL: Royals outplay Tigers 5-0; four-team league phase shows it could be open and unpredictable

Ranchi Royals produced a five-star performance against Shrachi Bengal Tigers. (Credit: HIL)

Three matches into the second edition of Women’s Hockey India League, three teams have one win each. The one team that couldn’t win their opening match – Soorma Hockey Club – had perhaps played the best attacking hockey. The initial signs point to the four-team league phase being unpredictable and open.

On Tuesday, Ranchi Royals produced a five-star performance against Shrachi Bengal Tigers at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Astro Turf Stadium in Ranchi on Tuesday. There was a local flavour on the scoresheet too with Jharkhand’s very own Beauty Dungdung (14′) and Sangita Kumari (44′) netting, apart from Lucina von der Heyde (33′,57′) and Hannah Cotter (10′).

Royals, who replaced last edition’s champions Odisha Warriors in the league, came into the season with pre-auction trades and the theme was unmissable. Sangita, Beauty, Deepika Soreng – from the hockey nursery that is Simdega, not far away from Ranchi – and local superstar Nikki Pradhan were all brought on board. Without the home-away format in place, they are truly at home. But the opening match didn’t go their way against SG Pipers.

But in their second outing, they outplayed the Tigers across the pitch, thanks to a strong start. Scoring twice in the opening quarter meant Tigers couldn’t repeat what they did against Soorma on Monday – take the lead and lean on the quality of their deep defence to see it through. The 5-0 win would perhaps Royals the early favourites.

Tigers, though, can still bank on the quality of their Argentine superstar Agustina Gorzelany to win them matches single-handedly. The foremost dragflcker in the women’s game – alongside Yibbi Jansen who is not playing this edition – Gorzelany captained the team in the second match but didn’t get enough opportunities to test Royals, with Tigers winning just a solitary PC.

On most other nights, they can count on the league’s most expensive signing to score. Lalremsiami – player of the match a day before – can step up as the leading Indian star for the side after a storming all-round display in their opener.

Pipers, who managed just one win in the first edition, looked solid in their opening win too with captain Navneet Kaur stepping up. If Deepika – who is returning after a long injury layoff – can manage to find her scoring touch too, they have two Indian stars capable of leading the charge this season, backed up by solid overseas quality.

Which brings us finally to Soorma HC, who were unlucky – or more pertinently, profligacy – to get nothing from the match against Tigers on Monday. Last year’s finalists opted for continuity in the backroom by sticking with former India international Jude Menezes as the head coach and Rani Rampal assisting him on the sidelines. They’d need to quickly find a solution to penalty corner attacks, having squandered as many as 13 against Tigers without scoring, but their overall forward play was easily the most fluent among all four teams so far.

It’s early days, but the absence of the Dutch stars in this edition – the undoubted benchmark in women’s hockey – combined with four teams not being flawless, could make the league phase potentially go down to the wire.