Pakistan draws with India in nine-a-side Lanco International Super Series
Pakistan and India, traditional arch-rivals, battled out an enchanting one-all draw in the innovative version of the nine-a-side Lanco International Super Series, played at the Perth Hockey Stadium, in Australia, on October 21.
It was one of the best shows of the tournament with the Indians displaying a much improved performance as compared to their previous match against New Zealand.
Pakistan’s hockey team Manager, Khawaja Junaid, regretted missing many long and short corners awarded to the team during the 30-minutes of play.
He was of the opinion that Pakistani players always had a chance to learn plenty from their matches against India, expressing strong hope that the same mistakes will not be repeated in other matches.
He said that any match against India is always important for the Pakistani team that delivered quite an aggressive performance without taking any pressure in the Friday’s match.
Replying to a query, Khawaja informed that the Green-shirts have not been ousted from the event as yet, and assured that Saturday’s match will be played with great zeal and zest to reach the final match for a splendid victory.
He also applauded the wonderful performance of the Pakistani goalkeeper, Imran shah, who is a valuable asset for the team.
He expressed his hopes that Imran Shah will keep up his excellent performance in times to come.
Michael Nobbs, coach of the Indian team, was also satisfied with the performance of his players, terming the match a competitive show.
He stated, “We did a good job. We had the better of exchanges and had more penetration than Pakistan. I would have been happier had we won it. We are good at one to one situation as we showed during the Champions Trophy. It is good that we again proved it
again here”.
Although India dominated the majority of the first half, Pakistan scored the first goal in the 12th minute of the match.
Waseem Ahmed drove the ball into the deep circle, volleying a powerful shot at the goal to put Pakistan ahead of India by 1-0.
In a matter of few seconds, Ravi Pal scored a goal through a reverse shot, leveling the score at one-each.
Despite plenty of attacks and counter-attacks, no team made an addition on the scoreboard in the second set of play, as the match concluded with a one-all draw.
The draw between Pakistan and India means that the former will have to win the next game against New Zealand, if it wants to secure a place in the finals.
Tags: