India knock green-shirts out of title race in
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament with 5-1 hammering
KARACHI: Hopes of a possible Pakistan hockey revival received a blow on Tuesday when the national team was handed a 5-1 drubbing by old rivals India in their must-win match of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in the Malaysian city of Ipoh.
Having faltered in back-to-back games against New Zealand and Australia, Pakistan desperately needed to beat the Indians in a bid to stay alive in the seven-nation competition.
But the green-shirts failed to rise to the occasion and just crumbled against the rampaging Indians especially in the last two quarters of the match.
It was India’s biggest win against Pakistan in six years since their 7-4 triumph in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The result propelled them to the second place on the points table just behind leaders Australia. They now have a realistic chance of qualifying for the event’s final.
For Pakistan, it was game over as they are now out of the title race.
While the Indians were on the top of their game, Pakistan lacked the sort of intensity that is needed to prevail in such high-pressure encounters.
India drew first blood when Manpreet Singh struck in the fourth minute but Pakistan equalised just three minutes through their captain Muhammad Irfan, who hit bulls-eye off a short corner.
But thereafter it was all India as the Sardar Singh-led side controlled the proceedings with SV Sunil scoring two opportunistic field goals in the 10th and 41st minutes. Talwinder Singh then capitalised on a rebound to score India’s fourth goal in the 50th minute before Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner in the 54th minute.
India’s victory would have been bigger had Rupinder converted a penalty stroke in the 55th minute and an deflection into the net by Ramandeep Singh in the 69th was not disallowed after the umpire initially blew for a goal.
In an exhibition of the sub-continental style of hockey, India lifted their game by leaps and bounds to dominate the match, forcing Pakistan to crowd their territory in the second half to deny Sardar’s men more goals.
India got off to a flying start with Manpreet picking up a short pass from Sunil on the left and shooting on target with a firm reverse drive in the fourth minute of play. Pakistan equalised within three minutes when they forced two successive penalty corners with captain Muhammad Irfan converting the second one with a low drag-flick to the right of Indian goalkeeper Akash Chikte.
The Manpreet-Sunil combination produced the second Indian goal in the 10th minute when Sunil got a faith deflection into the net to Manpreet’s free-hit from 25 yards.
Pakistan goalkeeper Imran Butt then brought off a fine save when he leapt to his left to palm away a rasping drag-flick by Rupinder from India’s first penalty former in the 18th minute of play.
Rupinder was off the field, serving two minutes for a green card suspension, when Pakistan earned their third penalty corner, but Irfan’s rising drag-flick struck Manpreet on the knee and he had to limp off the pitch.
Sunil boosted India’s lead to 3-1 when he pushed the ball into an open goal after receiving Nikkin Thimmaiah’s square pass on an opening created by Kothajit Singh’s push from the sideline in the 41st minute.
Talwinder then picked up the ball from a defender’s stick to shoot on target for an opportunistic goal in the 50th minute before Rupinder’s rasping drag-flick ended in the net from a penalty corner four minutes later.
Manpreet later came back to earn India a penalty stroke, when he was tripped in the scoring zone, but Rupinder sent the flick straight into the goalkeeper’s pads.
Meanwhile, Australia took one step into the final when they prevailed 1-0 over Oceania rivals and defending champions New Zealand, who now have eight points from five matches. The all-important goal for Australia was scored by captain Jamie Dwyer, who capitalised on a rebound to shoot into the open goal with the goalkeeper at his mercy.