Pakistan defeat New Zealand 4-2 in event-opener at Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament – Hockey Update
Pakistan men’s field hockey team, the Greenshirts has emerged victorious over New Zealand in the first match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup played on Thursday at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium in Ipoh, Malaysia.
The Greenshirts gave a good start to their opening game of the seven-national invitational tournament by a commanding 4-2 victory over New Zealand (The Black Sticks).
The victory not only gave Pakistan three points in the event but broke the curse over successes losses against the Black Sticks. It is pertinent to mention here that the Greenshirts before winning the recent match has lost five games at the hands of New
Zealand.
With the very first minute of the match, the Greenshirts started the game quite aggressively. Muhammad Umar Bhutta carried out the first attack in the second minute of the game but his shot went wide. However, they were not ready to give up. It was the matter
of one-minute as Muhammad Rizwan Sr. scored the opening goal of the day and put Pakistan ahead on the scoreboard.
Pakistan earned a penalty corner in the 24th minute of the first half and this time tested Syed Kashif Shah. He struck a powerful drag-flick into the New Zealand goal giving no chance to their goalie to double the tally. The first half of play
concluded with Pakistan sitting on top with a 2-0 lead.
Conversely, the two squads further picked up pace in the second half of play and started a more aggressive game. The strikers from the two sides carried out a number of attacks on either side to add a point to their tally.
Abdul Haseem Khan of Pakistan accounted for a goal in the 51st minute of the game and increased the lead up to three points, 3-0.
The Black Sticks took the ball under their control from the very start of the second half and started pressing the Pakistani defenders. They obtained a short corner in the 59th minute of the game and Andrew Hayward put in the first goal to bring
New Zealand into the score net. Bhutta scored his second goal of the game in the 61st minute to further expand the lead. Hugo Inglis of New Zealand in a counter-offence scored the goal in the 63rd minute but to no avail, as the Greenshirts
won the game by two goals, 4-2.
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