The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : India flatters to deceive

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 02, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

India flatters to deceive

Indian players celebrate after Ignace Tirkey scored India's third goal as Pakistan's Adnan Zakir looks on. — AP

LAHORE, OCT. 1. India missed out on a great chance to square the series as it squandered a two-goal advantage to be held 4-4 by Pakistan in the fourth hockey Test here on Friday.

India, which was leading 4-2 with 13 minutes to go for the final hooter, paid the price for its lethargy as Pakistan bounced back to score two goals in a span of 10 minutes and maintained its 2-1 lead in the series.

A mid-field blunder saw Akhtar Ali score in the 57th minute before a 67th minute strike by Rehan Butt helped Pakistan level the score in the final match of the Pakistan-leg at the National Hockey Stadium.

The teams proceed to India on Saturday to play the remaining four matches of the Friendship series to be held in New Delhi (Oct. 4), Chandigarh (Oct. 6), Amritsar (Oct. 8) and Hyderabad (Oct. 10).

Vikram Pillay (15th), Sandeep Singh (39th), Arjun Halappa (49th) and Ignace Tirkey (51st) scored for India, while Pakistan got its goals through Sohail Abbas (14th and 42nd), Akhtar Ali (57th) and Rehan Butt (67th).

India played superbly for most part of the match but sloppy display towards the end dashed its hopes of winning the match and squaring the series.

Even contest

The match saw an intense battle for supremacy as both the teams dished out exciting stuff much to the delight of the capacity crowd.

India, which has improved with every outing, was no doubt the better side in the first-half. Its forwards displayed good co-ordination and put the Pakistan defence and goalkeeper Salman Akbar under tremendous pressure.

Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep Michael, the strikers, were in good touch and made some dangerous moves but failed to capitalise due to poor finishing.

Despite India's fine show, it was the home side which took the lead against the run of play when Sohail Abbas scored in the 14th minute from the only penalty corner the side got in the first-half.

Abbas' flick beat goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza and gave the ace penalty corner expert his 264th goal, just three less than the world record holder Paul Litjens of the Netherlands.

Pakistan's joy was shortlived as Vikram Pillay equalised a minute later. Viren Rasquinha followed a fine run with a gentle push that was padded away by Akbar. Pillay, left unmarked inside the circle, scored off the rebound.

Frantic efforts

Both the sides made frantic efforts to take the lead before the break but failed in their attempts.

Pakistan had a great chance to make it 2-1 when Rehan Butt ran almost 60 yards before unleashing a crisp shot which went straight to D'Souza, who had no problem in padding it away.

The second-half saw India play aggressively, and the move paid dividends as Sandeep gave the side a 2-1 lead.

However, the host levelled three minutes later when Sohail scored from the second penalty corner.

Spectacular goals by Arjun Halappa and Ignace Tirkey rattled the Pakistanis and India wrested the initiative in the last quarter of the match.

But despite the two-goal lead, India never slowed down the game, which was perhaps to be blamed for the Pakistan's comeback.

Akhtar Ali's strike following a counter set up by Butt gave the host the confidence it was looking for to bounce back into the match.

India failed to stop Pakistan from earning a penalty corner with just three minutes to go and though D'Souza did well to stop Sohail's flick, the defenders were late in clearing the ball and it was tapped home by Butt.

PTI

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