Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], January 13 (ANI): Jugraj Singh scored his first hat-trick of the season to ensure a commanding 5-3 win for the Sharchi Bengal Tigers against Tamil Nadu Dragons in the ongoing Hockey India League 2026 (Men) on Tuesday at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Hockey Stadium in Ranchi.

This was an important win for the Tigers, who were placed 7th in the pool table before this match started, but jumped up to fourth place with this win - keeping their hopes alive in the league, as per a Hockey India press release.

While Jugraj became only the second player to get a hat-trick of goals after Kane Rusell from HIL GC team who has three hat-tricks in the league so far, goals from Sukhjeet (33') and Abhishek (55') helped the Tigers clinch a winner while Adrohit Ekka (36'), Thomas Sorsby (48') and Blake Govers (51') scored for the Dragons.

The defending champions Shrachi Bengal Tigers were quick to get off the blocks with Abhishek creating the first real shot on goal, but did not quite find success. However, an infringement while defending saw Tamil Nadu Dragons give away a penalty stroke in the 11th minute. Jugraj Singh, who was the top scorer from the previous edition, was on par against the legendary David Harte in the goalpost. He kept the ball low and fierce to beat Harte into the goal.

The 1-0 lead put the Tigers in good stead. Though the second quarter was goalless with Dragons trying their best to equalise with Uttam Singh leading the charge for them, there was not much they could muster from the attempts. Tigers' coach Valentin Altenburg was not a happy man at half-time, expressing that his team could get 'a lot of things right' in this match, and they seemed to do exactly that in the third quarter, which they began with a sensational goal by Sukhjeet Singh. It was a good combination between Tommy Willems and Abhishek, which was eventually finished well by Sukhjeet. This took Tigers scoreline to 2-0.

Though Dragons found a breakthrough in the 36th minute when Adrohit scored from a penalty corner, the quarter belonged to the Tigers with two back-to-back goals coming in from Jugraj Singh, who completed a hat-trick of goals with the 43rd and 45th minute goals.

This put Tigers in a comfortable 4-1 lead but they squandered it in the final quarter when they allowed Dragons to bounce back with two goals in the 48th and 51st minutes through Sorsby and Govers. The final few minutes were nail-biting with video referrals, giving the Tigers an advantage. A penalty corner in the 55th minute proved crucial in Tigers' win with Abhishek scoring from a fine variation. After injecting, Abhishek positioned himself well to pick up a deflection off Tom Grambusch's dragflick. This put them ahead 5-3 and eventually helped seal the match. (ANI)