Sardar’s men squander away chances, lose to Pak 1-2
India’s meeting with Pakistan at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium here on Thursday was a clash of two rivals who have a history of producing nail-biting contests. But all that was in store for their fans was disappointment. Both the teams gave a below par performance, India moreso.
Though Pakistan edged out India 2-1 to have three points in their Pool B match and emerge on the top of the group, the game gave both the teams enough issues to sort out before the knockout stage starts.
The overall standard of play was below par as both made buckets of mistakes and missed chances that should have been easily converted. Be it ball collection, passing, penalty corner conversions, defending or finishing — everything looked out of sorts.
In case of Pakistan, it was understandable as they were playing in their first international tournament in 11 months. But India had no excuses for lacking in every department of the game.
There wasn’t anything creative inside the ‘D’ that could have threatened Pakistan’s back line. On the couple of occasions when Indian forwards somehow managed to get inside the scoring area, Pakistan’s goalkeeper Imran Butt, brother of former Pakistan captain Rehan Butt, denied them the success.
The Indian team looked better in the first quarter as they created a couple of good chances, including a penalty corner in the eighth minute. Raghunath, who was given the responsibility of taking the penalty corners in the absence of injured Rupinderpal Singh, hit straight on goalkeeper’s body. That was easy to stop.
Then, in the fourth minute of the second quarter, Akashdeep Singh stormed Pakistan’s ‘D’ and made two attempts at the goal but couldn’t get past the determined Butt, who got hit twice in the match and had to seek medical assistance.
When both the teams returned for the second quarter, Pakistan looked a completely different side. From being overtly defensive, they opened up and started moving the ball around in the second. They started exerting pressure on the Indian midfield that lacked the pace and cohesiveness, allowing the Pakistani forwards to get into their half.
Fortunately for India, their opponents were also not converting chances that came their way. Had they done that, India would have been in serious trouble. Pakistan’s most experienced player Muhammad Waqas fluffed an easy chance in the 9th minute of the second quarter. He was alone inside the Indian circle with only PR Sreejesh to beat. His reverse hit was way off the target.
With each passing minute, Pakistan’s attacks were growing and looked very close to breaking the 0-0 deadlock. During one of such attacks, Muhammad Umar Bhutta, in the third quarter, entered inside from the left flank only to be deflected by Sreejesh but the ball fell just in front of Waqas, who hit it back hard which Bhutta deflected inside the goal.
“The Pakistan forward line moved pretty fast on the counters. The played counters all day and we turned the ball unnecessary,” Indian coach Terry Walsh said.
“The liveliness of Pakistan forward is something I would always love to enjoy watching as a spectator. It is good for the world and their level was pretty good today,” he added.
The goal jolted Indians out of their sleep. Suddenly, the energy level went up and there was movement. In the fourth quarter, SV Sunil created a chance in the fourth minute and then Kothajit Singh and Danish Mujtaba combined to almost bring India back into the match.
Finally, the Indians managed to draw level with Pakistan in the 10th minute. Kothajit again made a move from the left flank and passed it to Nikkin Thimmaiah who slotted it home. But Pakistan hit back within less than a minute to regain the lead and held it till the end to take three points and morale boosting victory.
India now play China in a must-win match on Saturday if they have to secure a place in the semifinal. The semi will be equally difficult as there they will face the might South Korea.
With injured Rupinderpal Singh ruled out of the match, the onus was on V R Raghunath to deliver with penalty corners but the burly drag-flick continued to misfire in the tournament as he wasted two set pieces.