Fry day for Pakistan

AMSTELVEEN: India’s forward line finally clicked and in its last league match against Pakistan, it came up with its finest display for an amazing 7-4 win. The score-line also meant it was the highest number of goals scored by India against Pakistan in a single match.
It was played at such a pace that rarely was there a dull moment. There was an attack and counter-attack virtually every 10-15 seconds. It was also heartening to see both teams last out such a fast game and keep it up till the very end. Maybe, when teams play with their hearts, things like physical fatigue take a backseat. Trailing 2-4 at one stage, in a space of less than 14 minutes the Indian team went on a rampage, as they came back from that deficit to win make it 7-4.
It was a dream result for this thus-far demoralised team. It also opened up the possibility of a medal, as India could finish fourth and figure in the match for third and fourth place. For that to happen, Australia need to beat Argentina by a margin of more than two goals so that India move ahead of Argentina.
Meanwhile Pakistan are out of the race for the final berth. Australia can enter the final even with a draw against Argentina, but in that case India will play only for last two places and Pakistan will play Argentina for bronze medal. When the first half ended 2-3, the score may have been in Pakistan’s favour, the exchanges and possession were almost equal. The first half had everything that a hockey fan would love to see in an India-Pakistan match. It was incredibly fast and attacking, and a perfect display of Asian hockey at its best.
Neither team wasted any time to get into the thick of action. Pakistan earned a penalty corner in the very first minute. No gains. With just over quarter of an hour gone, and the ball hitting an Indian defender on the foot inside the circle, Pakistan earned their third penalty corner. This time Sohail sent the ball much lower, closer to the ground and to Chauhan’s left. Rehan Butt lying in wait deflected in to open the scoring. Soon after, Nadeem Ahmad hit a reverse shot from top of the cirle and found the target high to Chauhan’s right to make it 2-0.
In case Pakistan were expecting things to become easier, Jugraj opened the scoring for India in the 24th minute with a fine penalty corner conversion to make it 1-2. Pakistan, however, extended their lead with Mudassar finding the net off a stray ball into the circle and that made it 3-1. With just about a minute to go, India earned their third penalty corner and Jugraj made no mistake sending it high into the net to reduce the margin to 2-3 and keep India in the picture. Into the second half, Pakistan earned two quick penalty corners, and off the latter, the sixth, Sohail struck and made it 4-2. At this stage, it seemed the Indians might wilt under pressure. Fortunately, they did not and after finding their bearings, between the 52nd and 66th minutes they scored five times without reply — going from 2-4 to 7-4.
India got its fifth penalty corner and after goalkeeper Ahmad Alam thwarted Jugraj, Baljit Dhillon got the ball, passed it to Viren Rasqunha who in turn set up Deepak Thakur who made it 3-4. Four minutes later, Thakur set up Prabhjot Singh, who seemed to fumble, but managed to stay on and strike cleanly to level the score. The match went up a few more notches and the pace was still incredible. Then Gagan Ajit Singh came into his own.
Off the 60th and 62nd minutes, Gagan Ajit, left out of the starting line-up, produced two beauties — both reverse hits and from difficult angles and situations. India were 6-4 up in no time. There was no let up. Pakistan, now getting desperate went all out in search of goals. The resultant space they left gave India more chances, and in the 66th minute, Thakur completed a Pillay-Prabhjot effort to score his second and India’s seventh goal. In a late match on Thursday, the Netherlands beat Argentina 6-3.