Penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh slammed four goals, including a hat trick, and striker Deepak Thakur struck thrice in a row as India pumped out their frustrations on hapless Trinidad and Tobago, crushing them 10-1 to stay alive in the men's hockey competition at the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Monday.
Kanwalpreet Singh, Rajpal Singh and Tushar Khandekar (one each) were the other scorers for India, who led 4-1 at half-time.
Chain Dwain Quan scored the lone goal for Trinidad and Tobago.
Giving a vastly improved display and playing to a plan, the Indian eves also scored an emphatic 8-0 win over Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games.
For the winners, who led 5-0 at half time, the goal scorers were, Mamta Kharab, Jasjeet Handa (two each), Jyoti Kullu , Saba Anjum, Sarita lakra, Sanggai Maimon, (one each).
India now have five points from three outings -- having scored 12 goals while conceding six -- and will play their last league match against Malaysia.
The men's hockey match was a mismatch but the Indians had to win by a big margin to stay afloat in the league. India could have done still better as they earned 12 penalty corners but converted only three. They had 25 shots at the goal, overall, of which only 10 were on target.
India needs to beat South Africa on Tuesday by a big margin to progress to the knockout round. South Africa surprised Pakistan by holding them to a 1-1 draw late last night.
The Caribbean islanders have become the whipping boys in this tournament having conceded 26 goals in three matches.
It was an Indian show all the way, but their rivals still surprised by scoring a goal against the run of play and this goal may make all the difference if it comes to averages to decide the second team from this pool.
The Indians started attacking in the right earnest with Rajpal Singh giving them the lead in the fourth minute, Deepak Thakur than scored two goals in space of six minutes to take the tally to 3-0.
India conceded a goal in the 23rd minute when Quan sent the ball home stunning the defenders and the goalkeeper (1-3) but within seven minutes Deepak Thakur completed his hat trick, scoring the team's fourth goal.
The second session saw India piling up more pressure, which fetched them six more goals. Sandeep Singh took the tally to 5-1 when he converted a penalty corner in the 38th minute and three minutes later the tally went up to 6-1 with Kanwalpreet converting a stroke.
Tushar Khandekar chipped in with a goal in the 45th minute (7-1) and then it was the turn of Sandeep to score three more goals to complete the rout.
His goals came in the 57th, 64th (penalty corners) and 70th minutes.
