India continued their undefeated form in the ongoing Asia Cup as they defeated arch rivals Pakistan by 3-1 in the Pool A game tonight. With this victory India topped the pool table and qualified for the Super 4 stage of the competition.
As expected, the game started on high note and Indian team dominated 1st 10 minutes of the 1st quarter. With 5 circle entries, Team India tried some good shots but couldn’t score a single goal. India couldn’t even take advantage when Pakistan was 10 men down as Muhammad Rizwan Junior was shown a green card in the 13th minute. Into the Pakistan’s circle in the early stages of the first quarter but could not convert it into a goal was the verdict of the first quarter.
Indian team started off well in 2nd quarter and the forward line showed some good passes. In the 17th minute. Akashdeep Singh exhibited good speed and made a good move to find Chinglensana Singh in the D-area, who finished the job with a hit to give India the lead. In the 23rd minute, Pakistan got a penalty corner but the Flick went directly to Indian keeper Suraj, who made no mistake. Suraj showed great goal keeping skills in the quarter to deny Pakistan’s any inroads onto the scorecard despite getting chances at several instances. The scoreline was 1-0 in favor of India till halftime.
Quarter 3 started in a dramatic style as 2 Pakistani players were shown yellow card ( Muhammad Rizwar Sr. in 33rd minute and Abu Mahmood in 34th minute). India, however, couldn’t use this as opportunity as Pakistan’s defense held their nerves. India got its first penalty corner of the match in 40th minute but a wide flick by Varun Kumar wasted this opportunity. India continued to dominate the quarter and Ramandeep scored India’s 2nd goal in 44th minute as he gave direction to a long pass by Harmanpreet Singh from the right flank. Right in the next minute, India got another penalty corner and Harmanpreet converted it to give a 3-0 lead to India. Teams went to break with a 3-0 scoreline in India’s favor.
The 4th quarter started with heavy attack from Pakistan’s side and they made the best use of their offensive skills to decrease the goal deficit. In the 49th minute Shan Ali scored 1st goal for his team. Sardar Singh’s pass was intercepted inside India’s circle by Muhammad Arslan Qadir who made a good move and passed that to Shan, who beat Indian goalkeeper Akash Chikte and put it into the goalpost. In the last minutes of the game, India kept the possession but couldn’t score another goal as Pakistan team was cautious enough to avoid any more inroads to their goalpost.
The match ended with 3-1 scoreline in favor of India. With this victory, India topped group A and qualified for the Super 4s stage of the tournament which gets underway from October 18. Pakistan also qualified for the Super 4s after finishing 2nd in the group.
The match has shown so many loopholes in Indian lineup: forwards were unable to get penalty corners, mid fielder were unable to trap the ball & misdirected passes & defender were unable to block the Pakistan’s forward line. Goalkeeping remained as the only aspect which was upright with the task of saving the fort. If India have to win this tournament, they will have to learn from and avoid these mistakes.