Indian hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay today blamed "missed scoring opportunites" for his side's 2-4 defeat against Argentina in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, but said the side needs to learn from its mistakes to do well in future.
"As captain, I am extremely disappointed at our performance in this tournament. We have a lot to learn from this event and rectify them," the 35-year-old striker told reporters after the match.
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"Overall, I thought we played well, but it was not good enough."
Though today's loss has dashed India's hopes of making it to the final of the competition, Pillay said he was looking forward to Friday's match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
"Yes, it is our last game in the league, and as always, we would like to beat Pakistan. I can assure you that our team will play good hockey on Friday."
The captain said he was not too happy with the midfield play as there was not much understanding between the half-line and the forwards.
"Also, somehow, we seem to have run out of luck in this tournament after doing so well in Hamburg and Sydney where we won the tournaments."
Asked whether the team had played better in those two events, he said: "Of course we played extremely well while winning the two tournaments. Somehow our team has not clicked here in the Champions Trophy."
PTI