Mumbai: India versus Pakistan in hockey may have increasingly ceased to be a rivalry, going strictly by the term’s definition and the predictability of the eventual outcome. What it still does often manage to deliver, however, is goals. And a fair few of them.
But in their 5-3 victory India did not run all over Pakistan, like they did in their last Pro League encounter, or at the last Asian Games where the 10-2 scoreline reflected the gulf between the two traditional hockey powerhouses. The men in white and green, finishing off a lot better than they began, though did not let it slip into one-way traffic territory, and came up with enough speedbumps for India to make it 4-2 at half-time and 5-3 at the end. India won like they were expected to, and with it advanced to the next stage of this new-format World Cup.
Also better, for a change, was the competitiveness.
That goal volume was exactly the same as the last time the two neighbours met in the Pro League in June (7-1 India), and one better than the fixture before that (4-3 India). Shahid kicked off the final quarter with another strike (46th) that threatened to take India down the path of the 4-3 Pro League game in which Pakistan hit two late goals. India held on here, despite going down to 10 men for the majority of the final five minutes. Turnovers weren’t even in question in the first quarter, where India forayed into the circle in the first minute, took a shot at goal in the second, and bossed throughout the 15.
The captain was again at the forefront of the team’s set-piece returns, flicking and sweeping goals from two penalty corners (PC) in the 5th minute and 21st minute. Yet it was Abhishek’s individual brilliance and craftsmanship leading to two quality field goals (11th, 24th) that was the standout, and that India would need more of going deeper into the tournament. Hardik Singh got India’s fifth goal through a penalty stroke in the 35th minute, after a period where Pakistan grew into the battle and got on the board through Hannan Shahid’s field goal (22nd) and Sufiyan Khan’s PC (24th). “These games can go like that. “We need to be better on the ball, and stop the turnovers. A rocket reverse shot from Abhishek earned India their first PC, which Harmanpreet deposited to the bottom right corner in the retake.
We’ve got to do a better job of controlling that,” Fulton said in his half-time assessment. Eight is what the Men’s World Cup clash at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands, brought along on Wednesday.
