Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh continued his brilliant run of form, converting two penalty corners, as the side continued its unbeaten run in Asian Champions Trophy 2024. Up against Pakistan, India had to work harder than they did in their previous matches, to beat Pakistan 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in their final league match of the campaign on Saturday. It was India’s fifth consecutive win in the six-team round-robin competition. But, as the two rival teams came face-to-face tensions soared, triggering a clash between the two sets of players.
Pakistan took the lead through Ahmad Nadeem (8th minute) before Harmanpreet (13th, 19th) converted two penalty corners to fashion India’s victory over familiar foes. It was Pakistan’s first loss in this tournament. India maintained the lead for the most part of the match, but Pakistan looked to get under India’s skin in the final quarter, hoping to bag the equaliser by all means.
The Indians started brightly dominating the early share of exchanges but Pakistan grew in confidence as the match progressed.
India were at the receiving end for the first time in the tournament when Pakistan drew the first blood.
It was a selfless Hannan Shahid whose brilliant work from the midfield split the Indian defence and Nadeem found himself at the right place to direct the ball into the Indian goal.
A stunned India kept up their composure and patiently built their attacks and secured their first penalty corner in the 13th minute. Skipper Harmanpreet scored with a powerful drag-flick to the left of a hapless Pakistan goalkeeper Munneb.
The Indians continued to press in the second quarter and gained their second penalty corner in the 19th minute and once again Pakistan defence had no answer as Harmanpreet was bang on target with India taking decisive 2-1 lead.
While India were the better side in terms of possession in the second quarter, Pakistan also had their chances, penetrating the rival circle on quite a few occasions.
Just 45 seconds from half-time Pakistan had an opportunity to draw level through a penalty corner but they wasted the chance as Sufyan Khan’s flick, which hit the top of cross-bar, was rejected for a raised ball.
The Indians sustained possession after the change of ends and secured their third penalty corner in the 37th minute, but Pakistan defended bravely.
Thereafter, a sustained spell of attacks helped Pakistanis to bag four penalty corners in quick succession but lacked the firepower to breach the Indian defence.
In the last quarter, both the sides relentlessly attacked and India secured three more short corners but failed to convert anyone of them.
The match also witnessed a heated encounter between Harmanpreet and Pakistan’s Ashraf Waheed Rana after the latter shouldered Jugraj Singh inside the Indian circle.
Here’s what happened:
Players clash during India vs Pakistan Hockey match of Asian Champions Trophy. @jarmanpreet04 @13harmanpreet @manpreetpawar07 @iSunilTaneja @vikrantgupta73 @razi_haider #INDvPAK #Hockey #HockeyIndia #ACT24 pic.twitter.com/8mHLGKnP8s
— Harsh Tegta (@iamharshtegta) September 14, 2024
Jugraj was felled by the impact and was seen grimacing in pain. Harmanpreet and Jarmanpreet Singh were quick to counter the offender.
The on-field umpires and Pakistan captain Ammad Butt and other players of both teams rushed in to control the situation but Rana was shown a yellow card, which resulted in a 10-minute suspension after the umpire went for a referral for serious misconduct.
With PTI Inputs
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