Kindo, a full back in his playing days, was a member of the team that won the lone World Cup for India in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur

After enduring a topsy-turvy tournament, the Ajit Pal Singh led Indian team had scripted history, notching up a thrilling 2-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan on the night of March 15 at the Merdeka Football Stadium in Kuala Lumpur

India will host the Men's Hockey World Cup for the second consecutive time after the country was picked to stage the game's showpiece event in 2023 by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) earlier this month

The men's hockey World Cup will be played in January 2023. On the other hand, Spain and Netherlands will co-host the the 2022 women's World Cup.

Members of the Ajit Pal Singh-led team talk with each other on phone to recall the occasion as Hockey India, sports ministry remain in deep slumber

India have proposed conducting the event for either men or women in the January 13 to 29, 2023 window.

The regulation time of the intense all-European final ended goalless, forcing the penalty shootout.

This was Australia's fifth bronze medal in the history of the tournament. The last time the Kookaburras had to be satisfied with a third-place finish was way back in 1994 in front of their home crowd in Sydney.

Belgium mauled England 6-0 in a one-sided match, but the Dutch survived a late Australian charge to win 4-3 via a shoot-out.

Australia are second only to four-time champions Pakistan, having won the world title thrice before, which includes back-to-back gold medals in the last two editions of the tournament in 2010 and 2014.

Belgium and the Netherlands registered wins over Germany and India with identical margins in the third and fourth semi-final matches on Thursday.

India took the lead but it lasted only three minutes. Then a superior, smarter and more experienced side took control of the match, taking the lead in the last quarter even as India continue to play the catch-up.

India find themselves in a rare position to go beyond the quarter-final stage in Hockey World Cup for the first time since 1975.

India last played in the semi-final of the World Cup way back in 1975 when they went on to lift their maiden title.

Australia will play the winner of Thursday's last quarter-final between India and the Netherlands in the semi-finals on Saturday.

In a lopsided match, Pakistan failed to match their spirited rivals and were found wanting in almost every aspect of the game.

On Monday, England and France won their respective crossover matches against New Zealand and China to enter quarters.

France, the lowest ranked team in the tournament at 20, have already shown the world that rankings hardly have any significance by stunning Olympic champions Argentina 5-3 in the pool stages.

England will face Olympic champions Argentina in the first quarterfinal on Wednesday.

Both the semi-finals and the final are scheduled for December 15 and 16 respectively.