The Indian men's team has made a winning start in the Hockey World Cup 2026. Team India defeated the lower-ranked Wales team 3-1 on Saturday (15 August). Now the team captained by Harmanpreet Singh will face England, ranked number 3 in the world ranking. This is India's toughest challenge in the pool stage. Team India last defeated England in the World Cup three decades ago.
India did not score any field goals against Wales. Harmanpreet scored two goals on the penalty corner, while Sanjay Rana also scored the first goal on the penalty corner. On the other hand, England defeated Pakistan 4-1 in another match of Pool D.
In the changed format of the World Cup, the result of every match would matter a lot and India was expected to win by a bigger margin than this. Earlier, the top two teams from each pool used to play the quarter-finals, but this time the top two teams from each pool will reach the second round, in which there will be 8 teams. In this stage, there will be two pools E and F, in which there will be 4-4 teams but they will play 2-2 matches and not three. That is, if both India and England go to the next round, then they will not face each other and only the points from the first pool stage will go forward. In such a situation, this match is very important for India's semi-final chances. The top-2 teams of Pool E and F will play the semi-finals.
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Need to reduce dependence on penalty corners
In the first match, the Indian forward line made many good efforts and even scored a penalty corner but could not score a field goal. There is also a need to reduce reliance on penalty corners for goals and focus on field goals. Jarmanpreet Singh especially performed well in defence, but the forward line will have to focus on better coordination. Before the World Cup, India faced England in the London stage of the Pro League, in which both the teams won 1-1 in the penalty shootout and secured bonus points. England finished second behind Belgium in the Pro League 2025-26 table after losing just two out of 16 matches, while the Indian team finished eighth among the nine teams, just above Pakistan.
When asked about the poor performance in the Pro League, captain Harmanpreet said, 'There are ups and downs in the game but our focus right now is on the World Cup. We have come with better preparation and the team is in form. We will focus match by match and focus on creating as many chances as possible to score goals. India will have to use the experience of the three-day boot camp in Switzerland in this match for mental strength before the start of the tournament. The England team has been in the last five in the last five World Cups since 2006. In the World Cup qualifiers, they defeated Japan (5–0), hosts Egypt (3–0) and the United States (5–0), before defeating Malaysia 7–1 and Pakistan 4–1.
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India last won the World Cup against England in 1994.
India's record against England in the World Cup has not been good and the last time it won by one goal was in 1994 in the fifth-sixth place match. After this, the two teams did not face each other in 1998 but in the next three World Cups (2002, 2006 and 2010), England defeated India by the same margin of 3-2. The two teams did not clash in Bhubaneswar in 2018 and in the last World Cup in 2023, both played a goalless draw. This match in Pool-D can determine the first and second place teams. After this, India has to play Pakistan on 19th August.