- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
OLYMPIC bronze-winners India on Friday (17) registered a thumping 3-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asian Champions Trophy 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
This was India’s second win in three games and they are now leading the five-team points table with seven points.
India, who drew South Korea 2-2 in their opening game and blew away hosts Bangladesh 9-0 in the second, started on a confident note against Pakistan and went 1-0 up in the opening quarter with drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh converting a penalty corner.
They continued to maintain pressure on their opponents but Pakistan somehow stopped India from scoring their second goal. India had more possession of the ball and circle penetrations and shots on target but failed to double their lead, thanks to goal-keeper Mazhar Abbas making numerous saves.
The scoreline remained 1-0 in favour of India at the end of the second quarter.
India, ranked fifth in the world, came back strongly in the third quarter as Akashdeep Singh scored a brilliant field goal in the 42nd minute to make it 2-0.
However, Pakistan pulled one back with Junaid Manzoor scoring three minutes later. The third quarter concluded with the Olympic medallists leading 2-1.
Pakistan got their first penalty corner of the match but Indian goal-keeper Suraj Karkera made an impressive save to deny the opponents an equalizer.
India got another penalty corner and Harmanpreet scored his second goal in the 53rd minute to take the lead to 3-1.
Pakistan got another penalty corner but Karkera made a brilliant save again.
The match ended with the same scoreline. India have won 11 out of their last 12 matches against Pakistan while one ended in a draw.
India next play Japan in their final league match on Sunday (19).
Pakistan are yet to pick a win in two matches and will take on South Korea on Saturday (18) and Bangladesh (19).
The top four teams will advance to the semi-finals with the final scheduled on December 22.
Malaysia was the sixth team in the fray but pulled out citing Covid-related quarantine.
