Muscat: Defending champions India stretched their unbeaten streak to 11 games against arch-rivals Pakistan as they made a stupendous comeback to down them 3-1 in the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here, Saturday night.
Captain Manpreet Singh (24th), forward Mandeep Singh (31st) and Dilpreet Singh (42nd) scored for the winners after Muhammad Irfan Jr’s first minute strike had put Pakistan ahead.
It was a quick start for the Pakistanis as they won a penalty corner in the first minute and managed to score through Irfan Jr, who was the quickest to react after Indian custodian PR Sreejesh had made a save off the PC execution.
With an early setback, the men in blue managed to regain control in the next few minutes keeping more ball possession and trying to make inroads in the Pakistani defence through darting runs down the flanks.
The tactical ploy worked for the Indians as they earned a couple of penalty corners but the Pakistani defence held firm in the opening quarter to take their one-goal advantage into the two-minute break.
India tried for the equaliser in the second quarter but struggled inside the striking circle. But it was a moment of magic from Manpreet, showing individual brilliance to make the score 1-1 in the 24th minute.
After winning possession just inside Pakistan’s half, the 26-year-old made a marauding run into the striking circle and weaving past three defenders in the process he finished the move all by himself stroking the ball into the far-post to revive India’s spirits.
However, both the teams had a couple of chances in the closing stages of the second period but failed to make most of it. It was an interesting third quarter for the Indian team scoring two goals to put their rivals on backfoot.
A turnover in the 31st minute saw Akashdeep Singh make a defence splitting run into the striking circle and pass the ball to fellow striker Mandeep, who had his back towards Pakistani goal but flicked the ball between his own legs as Pakistani Goalkeeper Imran Butt had no chance.
Pakistan tried to be back in the game with some quick inroads hoping for the equaliser but failed as the Indian defence stood firm to deny any further damage.
However, the crucial goal came in the 42nd minute as India attacked their opponents through a quick counter-attack which was led by Akashdeep, who raced past Pakistani midfielders and then found Lalit Upadhyay on the right flank.
Lalit then moved forward towards the baseline and struck a hard low shot towards goal, which was padded by Imran Butt into the path of Dilpreet Singh, who calmly slotted home for his fourth of the tournament.
Sreejesh feat
Muscat: Indian men’s hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh’s 200th match for India turned into a memorable one as they defeated Pakistan 3-1 in the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy here, Saturday night. The 30-year-old from Kerala started his journey in 2006 and has not looked back since then. Sreejesh was handed the captain’s armband in 2016 taking over from now retired Sardar Singh and had led the team to the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics in the same year.
