Advertisement

Trust Dilip Tirkey to deliver the goods. The adivasi who has served Indian hockey durably scored thrice as Orissa Steelers edged Sher-e-Jalandhar 4-3 to win the Premier Hockey League (PHL) title at the Sector 42 Stadium in Chandigarh on Monday.

No sooner had Tirkey sounded the boards with a fierce shot in the 55th minute — the decisive goal — all hell broke loose. It certainly took the sheen off the final as violence erupted.

As soon as umpire Satinder Singh awarded the goal, he was chased by Kanwalpreet, Tejinder and goalkeeper Kamaldeep. Shers’ bone of contention was that the umpire had not blown the whistle to signal the penalty corner and thus, the goal should have been disallowed.

The ensuing fracas resulted in the proceedings being halted. After that, it took the persuasive skills of Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) secretary K Jothikumaran to bring both the teams back to the field after 26 minutes.

And the partisan crowd openly bayed for umpire Satinder’s blood, showering him with the worst invective. All these scenes unfolded in front of the top brass of the IHF including president KPS Gill. Satinder Singh did not come back and reserve umpire Suresh Kumar continued till the end.

Coming back to the third match in a best-of-three series finals, both the teams seemed to have reserved their best for the end. It was Steelers who opened the scoring in the third minute. Dilip Tirkey made no mistake with a crisp shot which brooked no response.

But Shers retaliated quickly and found the equaliser in the 16th minute when Gagan Ajit Singh scored off their first penalty corner.

Gagan Ajit put his team 2-1 in the 25th minute with an opportunistic strike. Once again, Tirkey made no mistake off the fourth penalty corner to make it 2-2 for the Steelers.

Thereafter, Tejbir scored for Shers when he latched on to a rebound following their penalty corner in the 41st minute. Their joy was shortlived when Bimal Lakra converted a stroke for Steelers after a goal bound shot hit Kanwalpreet’s shoulder.

Thereafter, Dilip Tirkey came up with the decisive strike. Tirkey was adjuged the player of the tournament. Bangalore Lions got the fair play award.

Result

Orissa Steelers  4
Sher-e-Jalandhar  3