India soak in pressure, beat Pak

Kuantan (Malaysia), October 23 

Top-ranked India had to dig deep into their reserves to eke out a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals and defending champions Pakistan in a league match of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here today. India were composed in defence when under pressure from early Pakistan raids and worked hard to gain control of the showpiece encounter of the tournament.

Pradeep Mor scored his maiden goal in his 13th international appearance to give India the lead in the 22nd minute, but Pakistan then took charge through strikes by Muhammad Rizwan Sr. and Muhammad Irfan Jr. in the 31st and 39th minutes.

However, Rupinder Pal Singh converted India’s only penalty corner in the 43rd minute and Ramandeep Singh scored his third goal of the tournament in the following minute by deflecting in a diagonal cross from Talwinder Singh. 

Strong defence

Pakistan forced the first penalty corner in the opening minute when an Indian defender carried the ball in the circle, but goalkeeper PR Sreejesh blocked two shots to ward off the danger. Sreejesh first padded away a drag-flick from Muhammad Aleem Bilal and then dived to his right to clear the rebound attempt. There was danger for India again in the fourth minute when Pakistan’s strikers worked in unison to create space deep in the Indian territory and a cross from the right rebounded to the unmarked Muhammad Rizwan Jr. on the top of the circle. But he sent a wayward shot wide of the left post.

The Indians did some hard work and got to the top of the rival scoring zone on a couple of occasions, but Pakistan’s resolute defence denied them a crack at the goal. Talwinder had the first Indian shy at the goal in the 11th minute when he picked up a pass from the right on the top of the circle and created some space as he turned for a reverse hit, but the shot soared high over the goal.

Mor strikes

India took the lead against the run of play when Mor, on the right flank, latched on to the ball that had deflected off a Pakistani defender. Mor darted into the circle and sent in a firm shot from a narrow angle that went through goalkeeper Imran Butt’s pads.

Continuing to look for the equaliser, Pakistan were rewarded in the first minute after half-time as the Indian defence left Rizwan Sr. unmarked on the top of the circle as he collected a long diagonal ball and sent in a snap shot into the left corner of the goal. Pakistan surged ahead as Muhammad Umar Bhutta made a brilliant run along the baseline on the left before setting up Irfan Jr. for a simple tap-in. 

India earned their first penalty corner in the 43rd minute after a video referral. Rupinder converted with a rasping drag-flick high into the right corner to score his seventh goal of the tournament. A minute later, India took the lead thanks to another error from Pakistan. A Pakistani defender, under no pressure at all, could not control a hopeful long ball from Lalit Upadhyay from the right. The ball deflected to Talwinder, who neatly collected the ball before passing it to Ramandeep. — PTI