New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) Indian women’s hockey team thrashed Azerbaijan 3-0 for their third successive win the and took a 3-0 lead in the four-match Karbonn Cup Test series at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Wednesday.India dominated the proceedings right from the start and went ahead as early as in the third minute through Sushila Chanu and doubled the lead three minutes from the breather with a field goal from Anuradha Devi. Ritu Rani completed the scoreline in the 67th minute.

Chanu was impressive on the right flank as her shot in the third minute went straight through the legs of Azerbaijan goalkeeper Seda Kheyirova.

India coach C.R.Kumar was visibly happy with the fitness levels of the girls. But the team’s inability to convert any of the five penalty corners that came its way was a cause of concern for Kumar.

“It was good that we scored three field goals. We were working on that aspect of our game, but the problem is when we do well in one area of the game we perform badly in another. It would have been good if we would have got performed a bit better in the penalty corners that we got,” said Kumar.

Kumar said the girls committed lot of errors during the match.

“There were a lot of (basic) errors on the field. I am satisfied with the fitness level of the team but perfection is equally important and we have to work towards that,” said Kumar.

Kumar said priority is to peak at the time of qualifier. “The team cannot peak twice in a short time. It’s very good for us that we are playing well against Azerbaijan as it is going to help us tremendously,” said Kumar.

With India pitted against teams like South Africa, Italy, Poland, Ukraine and Canada in the qualifiers, Kumar said the key for the hosts will be to handle European style of hockey. South Africa are the top-seeded team and are ranked world No.12 while India are world No.13.

“They (Azerbaijan) play European style hockey and playing against them will certainly help us during our Olympic qualifiers. We can learn a lot and can experiment with our own techniques as the other European teams are going to play in similar manners,” he added.