Three down, Australia rally to hold India

Australia rallied from a 0-3 deficit to hold India 3-3 in the women's hockey Test between the countries in Buderim, Australia, on Friday.

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Mamta Kharab put the Indians ahead in the ninth minute after latching on to a free-hit and beating Australia goalkeeper Cindy Morgan.

Three minutes the dashing forward scored again following a pass from the left by Adeline Kerketta.

A penalty-corner goal by Surinder Kaur made it 3-0 for the Indians two minutes later.

But Bianca Netzler's opportunism in the 20th minute, when she pounced on a loose ball and slammed past Indian keeper Helen Mary, opened the path for a strong recovery.

Crossing over 1-3, the home side tightened up their defence and pulled a goal back in the 38th minute through Louise Dobson, who scored from a penalty-corner, and then drew abreast in the 43rd minute when Netzler scored her second goal of the match from a deflection.

The teams meet again on Saturday and Sunday.

The first match in the series ended abruptly following a power failure and the second game was called off due to fog.

"It was a disappointing effort in the first 15 minutes, but once we got our structure back together and went back to our system, we managed to get at them," Australian assistant coach Mark Hager said.