Ipoh: India might have routed a lowly Bangladesh 9-1, but interim coach Roelant Oltmans is still not satisfied with his wards and wants the team to reach its peak in the remaining matches of the Asia Cup hockey tournament here.
Penalty corner exponents Rupinderpal Singh and VR Raghunath slammed a hat-trick each as India mauled Bangladesh on Wednesday to register their third win on the trot in Pool B but Oltmans said the match against the minnows was not the best performance by his side at the eight-nation tournament.
"I think we can raise our level in the coming matches. I don't think the players also were completely happy with their performance. In certain parts of the game they were happy but in certain parts of the game we did not show consistency," Oltmans said at the post-match press conference.
"This sort of game is always difficult to play because you already know that you are in the semi-finals. To add to it, the weather was also not really fantastic, the match was delayed. It is not always the best situation to be in as a player. I must say it was not our best game of the tournament but we are happy with the 9-1 win," he said.
For India, Rupinder (4th, 19th, 27th, 61st minutes) scored four goals in the match, out of which three came via penalty corner, while Raghunath (29th, 52nd, 59th) also converted short corners with ease to emerge as the joint top-scorer of the tournament with Jang Jong Hyun of South Korea on six goals apiece.
Nikkin Thimmaiah (25th) and Malak Singh (47th) were the other goal-getters for India. India converted six out of the 10 penalty corners that came their way, and the Dutch coach was happy with the efforts of his drag-flickers.
"We converted 60 per cent of our penalty corners and that is a very high rate. I am happy with their [Rupinder and Raghunath] performance. It's a very good percentage," Oltmans said.
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