A last minute goal by captain Harmanpreet Singh gave India a 3-2 win over New Zealand in their Pool B match at the Paris Olympics.

Paris: Skipper Harmanpreet Singh saved his best for the last minute and scored the winning goal within a minute of full time as India beat New Zealand 3-2 in their Group B opener at the Paris Olympics here on Saturday.

Sam Lane (8th minute) and Simon Child (53rd) scored for New Zealand, while Mandeep Singh (24th), Vivek Sagar Prasad (34th) and captain Harmanpreet Singh (59th) scored for India.

India got off to an aggressive start as captain Harmanpreet and Abhishek put a lot of pressure on the New Zealand defence.

New Zealand were initially content to sit back and defend.

But it was New Zealand who stunned India by scoring the first goal of the match through Lane on the first penalty corner.

Stunned by the opening goal, India pressed hard and controlled most of the match.

The Indians formed their attack from both sides with the Black Sticks to sit back and defend while looking for a counter.

Against the scoreline, India head coach Craig Fulton will be a little concerned about the team's penalty corner conversion rate.

India earned five penalty corners but converted only one, while New Zealand converted two of their nine set pieces.

After Harmanpreet's flick was saved by New Zealand goalkeeper Dominic Dixon, India equalized on a penalty corner in the 24th minute when Mandeep scored from the rebound.

Two minutes after the last change, Dixon saved Mandeep's reverse shot from the top of the circle with a perfect assist from Harmanpreet.

In the second half, Vivek scored in four minutes to give India the lead.

But within two minutes, New Zealand piled the pressure on the Indian defense and won four back-to-back penalty corners that had no effect.

Trailing, the Black Sticks continued their attacking intent and quickly earned two more penalty corners, the second of which found the net after Childe leveled the scores from the rebound.

But the match was far from over as the Indians pressed relentlessly in search of a precious win and in the process Sukhjeet Singh's deft play earned him a penalty corner, leading to yet another set-piece move.

The second penalty corner turned into a penalty stroke for India, as Harampreet's dragflick hit Child and the Indian captain made no mistake in securing a crucial win for his team.

India will next face the mighty Argentina in Group B on Monday.