Sandeep's Brace Sinks Pakistan

An under-strength India sprung a major surprise toupset arch-rivals Pakistan 4-1 and level the four-match hockey series at Quettatoday.

India, who lost the first Test at Karachi narrowly,bounced back strongly to register the convincing victory which was also theirfirst triumph against Pakistan in eight matches.

Riding on a brace by drag-flicker Sandeep Singh (13thand 17th minutes) and a 33rd minute strike by Ignace Tirkey, the visitors took a3-0 lead by half-time before Tushar Khandekar added to the tally in the 60thminute with an opportunistic goal.

Pakistan wasted four penalty corners before scoringfrom the fifth in the 69th minute through Sohail Abbas for their consolationgoal.

The series stands tantalisingly poised at 1-1 aftertoday's result.

India seemed under a lot of pressure when the match started at the Gen MusaStadium, hosting a major tie after a long time, but they got into rhythm as thematch progressed.

But more than India's brilliance, it was thewaywardness of the Pakistanis which led to their shock defeat.

India got themselves into a position of strength in thefirst half itself when Sandeep scored two goals in a span of three minutes, bothcoming from penalty corners, before Tirkey hammered home for a 3-0 lead.

Sandeep, who had a tremendous outing in the junior AsiaCup where he was the tournament's top scorer, brought an end to a lean patch atthe highest level with the twin strikes, outwitting Pakistani goalkeeper SalmanAkbar on both the occasions.

The youngster from Haryana, expected to fill in theshoes of expert drag flicker Jugraj Singh, scored from the first two penaltycorners the side got in the first 17 minutes.

Akbar, who was expecting high flicks from Sandeep onboth occasions, was foxed when the Indian beat him with cleverly hit carpetshots, much to the delight of the visitors.

Pakistan tried hard to stage a comeback briefly whenthey made some dangerous moves from both the wings and in the process earned acouple of penalty corners in the 23rd and 30th minute.

But the hosts' hopes of reducing the margin camecrashing down after goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza charged out to effect fine saves-- first from a variation and second from a powerful drag-flick from SohailAbbas, the world's second highest goal scorer behind Holland's Paul Litjens.

The Indians made the life of the Pakistanis difficultfurther when Tirkey scored in the 33rd minute from a fine counter move.

Vivek Gupta's hit into the Pakistan circle was wellstopped by Arjun Halappa, whose reverse pass was used to the maximum effect byTirkey, who unleashed a rasping hit to beat Akbar all ends up.

The proceedings were marked by some end-to-end hockeyin the second half as Pakistan pressed hard to make inroads into the Indiandefence but the young side held firm.

The visitors suffered a jolt when key midfielder VirenRasquinha was temporarily suspended for an infringment in the 55th minute.

However, Pakistan failed to take advantage of thesituation even though they managed to win two penalty corners with DilwarHussain being unable to stop Rehan Butt's pushes from setpieces.

Young forward Khandekar, who had an outstanding gametoday, deservedly hit the last nail in Pakistan's coffin with a goal in the 60thminute to seal the fate of the match.

PTI