Pakistanis hockey woes just do not seem to end, after a dismal World Cup performance in India where they finished last. Their next campaign in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Malaysia has not gone according to plan either. After a hard fought 3-3 l draw against the home side their first match, the men in green slumped to a one sided 4-2 defeat at the hands of archrivals India in their second match of the tournament.
Defending champions India after losing their first match breathed some life in their title defense in a spectacular fashion, with a win against Pakistan whom they had defeated convincingly in their last meeting in Delhi during the World Cup. India were on their game right form the start, making slick moves one after the other, lead by Arjun Hallappa who was the brains behind most of India's attacks.
The defending champions wasted two penalty corners, before they opened the scoring in the last minute of the first half. Sardar Singh broke the deadlock in the 26th minute to give India a one-goal lead. This was maintained by India until half time. Even though Pakistan did mount a series of attacks on the opposition goal, even won a penalty corner could not help the green shirts score an equalizer.
Half time team talk seemed to have had an effect on the men in green as soon after the resumption of the game, Muhammad Imran leveled the proceedings through a penalty stroke in the 37th minute. The penalty stroke was awarded to Pakistan after a messy goalmouth scramble.
India then started attacking through counter moves, and troubled the Pakistan defense with number of moves through the wings. Antil restored India’s lead as he latched on to a pass from Gurbaj Singh as the opposition goalkeeper was comprehensively beaten. The wave of attacks did not stop here as India managed to score two more goals to make it 4 -1.
Tushar Khandekar latched onto an exquisite pass from Shivender, to make it 3-1 and just two minutes later, Gurbaj scored another goal to end Pakistan's hopes of making a comeback with a score line of 4-1.
The young Pakistan team who are missing number of Senior Players due to their lack of form, simply lacked options and looked without ideas in most parts of the match. After being 4-1 down, the four times world champions did get a consolation goal as they converted a penalty corner to make it 4-2, but it was too little too late.
Pakistan will take on China in their third match of the tournament, but chances of Pakistan going in the semi finals already look slim. Lack of experience and absence of any sort of planning can be blamed for the downfall of Pakistan's hockey team, who were once considered the kings of hockey.
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