Indian men's hockey team suffers 1-5 thrashing at hands of Australia in first Test

Indian men's hockey team suffers a 1-5 defeat against Australia in Perth, showing sparks but ultimately falling short.

The Indian men's hockey was expected to put up at least a decent fight but was hammered 1-5 by Australia in the first Test of the five-match series in Perth on April 6.

The Australians controlled the tempo of the match from start to finish. The Indian team showed some sparks in the final quarter but it was too late by then.

Tom Wickham (20th, 38th minute) scored a brace, while Tim Brand (3rd), Joel Rintala (37th) and Flynn Ogilvie (57th) were the other goal-getters for the winners.

India's lone goal was scored by Gurjant Singh in the 47th minute.

The Kookaburras showed positive intent from the start and took the lead as early as the third minute through Brand, who shocked India early with brilliant individual skills from the left flank.

He received a long pass from the deep and outfooted Jarmanpreet Singh with his stick work and pushed the ball past veteran India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.

Australia continued to press hard on the Indian defence and secured their first penalty corner in the eighth minute but could not breach Sreejesh's defence this time.