Ace Pakistan striker Rehan Butt attributed India's win over his team to the home advantage the host enjoyed on the opening day of the hockey World Cup.
“It was the same Indian side which had lost to us in the Champions Challenge in Salta (Argentina) last December. But here the tremendous crowd support and the advantage of playing at home boosted the Indian team,” Butt said.
He admitted that Pakistan was under pressure because of the crowd support for India. “In the first half we were nervous as the crowd was backing India. In the second half, we enjoyed the game a little bit,” Butt said.
The famed forward said that the fielding of young Indian custodian P.R. Sreejesh ahead of Adrian D'Souza made no big difference.
“They had done the same in Salta. When two of Sohail Abbas's shots hit the bar, then the goalkeeper hardly comes into the picture,” he said.
Butt was happy that Asian teams were playing well and hoped that Asia would dominate in a year or two.
