Hockey India League Highlights, UP Rudras 0-3 Hyderabad Toofans: HT Notch Up First Outright Win

The match will begin at 8:15pm IST at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. It will be live telecast on DD Sports, Sony Sports 1, Sony Sports 3 and Sony Sports 4 TV channels in India. It will be live streamed on the Sony Liv app and website and the OTT app Waves in India.

An absolute humdinger of a match has just come to an end. Tamil Nadu Dragons have edged out Team Gonasika 6-5 in a thriller that went right down to the wire, with Jip Janssen scoring a hat-trick and local boy Karthi Selvam netting the winner minutes away from the final hooter. The action continues, as the second match of the evening is coming up in 15-odd minutes.

Here's how UP Rudras and Hyderabad Toofans line up at the start of the game in Rourkela:

We have the pushback at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. UP Rudras attacking from left to right, and Hyderabad Toofans from right to left in the first half.

That's exactly the kind of start the Hyderabad Toofans would have wanted. Zachary Wallace scores his first goal of HIL 2024-25, a field goal that beats Mazarelo's attempted parry. Sumit and Co are off to the perfect start in Rourkela.

After Zachary Wallace, it is Rajinder Singh's turn to sound the board for the Toofans. A smart assist from Nilakanta Sharma helps set up Toofans' second goal. The first quarter ends, and Sumit would be mighty pleased with the early exchanges. The question is, can they hang on?

The second quarter ends without any goals, and it is the Hyderabad Toofans who are the happier of the two sides, heading into the interval. Goals from Rajinder and Wallace have put them in the ascendancy, though a comeback by the Rudras is entirely plausible from here.

The Toofans appear to be unstoppable tonight. Shilanand Lakra finds the back of the net early in the third quarter with a field goal, beating Rudras goalie Mazarelo with an incisive strike. Sumit's men have a three-goal lead now, and Rudras need something special to turn this around from here, one would imagine.

The seconds run down on the clock, and Hyderabad Toofans complete a comprehensive 3-0 win over the UP Rudras. This is the first outright win in HIL 2024-25 for Sumit's side, who had one shootout win (after a draw) and two losses to their name prior to this.