An absorbing contest is in store as heavyweights BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) and Indian Oil, both from Bengaluru, cross swords in the first semi-final of the Dabang Mumbai – 50th All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament – 2015, to be played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Union Bank of India and Bank of India are the co-sponsors of the tournament.
File Pic of Dharamvir in action during a Pool-D league match against Mumbai Customs.
Both the oil majors, comprise of current and former Indian stars, would look to sparkle and hope to get a positive result for their respective teams.
However, Indian Oil who are in good nick and have convincingly won their last three matches hold an edge over their arch-rivals BPCL. They defeated Mumbai Customs 8-4 and South Central Railway 7-1 in the pool phase and then overcame Indian Navy 6-3 in the quarter-final. International Dharamvir Singh (7 goals, including 2 hat-tricks) and drag-flicker Gurjinder Singh (6 goals, 1 hat-trick) have been the leading scorers for their team in 3 matches. Captain Deepak Thakur (4 goals) has also chipped in with goals at crucial junctures. The trio will be lethal and along with support from their teammates they could pose plenty of problems for the BPCL defenders. BPCL goalkeeper Swinder will have to be extra alert and cautious to try and stop the rival attackers from finding the net.
In contrast BPCL have not had a smooth passage to the last four. After defeating Army XI 5-1 in their opening league game, they went down 2-3 to Central Railway. Then they managed to sideline Air India 3-2 to reach the penultimate round. Indian forward S.V. Sunil has been their most impressive player having scored 5 goals, including two crucial ones in the quarter-finals. Manpreet Singh, Amir Mohd Khan, Tushar Khandekar, Ravi Pal and Sommana Pradhan will have come up with the goods to add depth in the attack.
The defenders of both team’s will have to work extra hard to try and blunt the attacks of their opponents.
The previous meeting on this ground between these two outfits was in last year’s final, which BPCL managed to win 10-9 via the sudden death penalty shootout. It may be recalled that the match finished tied at 5-all and after the 5-set of tie-breaker the scores were still level at 8-all before BPCL goalkeeper Swinder Singh saved Gurjinder Singh’s try which gave his team the advantage. Swinder teammates Birendra Lakra and Lalit Upadhaya then succeeded in scoring in the sudden death to clinch match for BPCL and the title.
The other semi-final to be played between local outfit Western Railway and CAG (Comptroller & Audit General) is also expected to be an interesting affair. Western who had beaten South Central Railway 5-1 in the quarter-final would like to maintain the momentum and play for a win. On the other hand, CAG who did well to overcome Central Railway in a tense match, are also keen to continue with their good showing and make their maiden entry into the final.