Playing their best hockey in the tournament so far,India pipped Pakistan 3-2 in a thrilling league match of the Champions Trophyhockey tournament here today.
After a draw, loss and two successive wins in the six-team tournament, India now have seven points from four matches to climb to thejoint second position with the Netherlands behind Germany. India next play Koreain their last league encounter on Friday.
In a fast-paced and evenly-balanced encounter thatwitnessed brilliant stickwork and classical skills, India found the targetthrough Prabhjot Singh (21st minute) and captain Dilip Tirkey (34th) in thefirst half while Gagan Ajit Singh scored the third in the 56th minute. GazanfarAli (23rd) and Sohail Abbas (56th) scored for Pakistan.
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The ball moved from end to end as both sides playedattacking hockey. Ultimately, it was the solid defence by the Indians, speciallythe excellent display by goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan, which clinched the day forIndia.
However, it was play-maker Dhanraj Pillay who stole theshow with his amazing runs and brilliant stickwork. At 35, the veteran centre-forwardwas too good for players nearly half his age and set up India's first and thethird goals.
The game had started dangerously for the Indians withPakistan's Shabbir putting the ball into the Indian goal after just 43 seconds.But the umpire had already called for an infringement and the goal wasdisallowed.
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Pakistan dominated the possession for the first tenminutes and repeatedly made forays into the Indian striking circle but thedefenders did their job well.
Pakistan earned their first penalty corner in thefourth minute but a superb defence from Pillay thwarted the attempt.
India counter-attacked in the next minute and made avery good move but Prabhjot Singh failed to deflect the ball in.
The Indians slowly settled down and started raiding the Pakistani circle withalarming frequency. India earned their first penalty corner in the tenth minuteand as Dilip Tirkey sold a dummy, Gagan Ajit Singh with space in front shotstraight to the Pakistan goalkeeper Ahmed Alam who saved with his pads.
Alam was again to the rescue when India earned theirsecond penalty corner. Jugraj Singh flicked it perfectly and Alam made abrilliant save diving to his right to deflect the ball off his gloves.
The deadlock was broken in the 21st minute after aclassic move by Dhanraj Pillay. The Indian super-star dodged four Pakistandefenders and flicked a pass Prabhjot whose rasping shot beat Alam in the goal.
But only two minutes later, bad luck came India's wayand forced the equaliser for Pakistan. Muhammad Sarwar moved in and gave to AliGhazanfar whose weak shot was accidentally deflected into the goal by Indiandefender Sukhbir Singh Gill's stick.
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It was India, now, who, in the constant drizzle,maintained possession. After a few more sharp runs into the Pakistan circle,Gagan Ajit Singh earned India's third penalty corner in the 34th minute whichwas then smashed in superbly by the Indian captain Dilip Tirkey to give his sidea 2-1 lead at the breather.
In fact, Pakistan earned their third penalty cornerjust 20 seconds inside the half-time but specialist Sohail Abbas was unable toconvert it.
Both the teams came on strongly after the break earningtwo penalty corners each. For India, the hero was Devesh Chauhan as he twiceused the gloves to good effect against Sohail Abbas, deflecting the ball away.
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India's fourth and fifth penalty corners were wasted byJugraj Singh and Dilip Tirkey.
It was again Dhanraj Pillay who was instrumental inIndia earning another goal. The beautiful move was started on the left flank byDaljit Singh who passed it on to Pillay in the centre. Pillay quickly deflectedit to Gagan Ajit who circled around to dodge the advancing Pakistani goalkeeperbefore releasing the ball from an acute angle.
Trailing 1-3, Pakistan got desperate and increased thepressure on the Indian defence. They earned their fifth penalty corner in the55th minute and Sohail Abbas finally got it right this time. His powerful dragflick beat the diving Devesh Chauhan and Pakistan were able to narrow themargin.
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Two minutes later, Pakistan came close to scoring againwith their sixth penalty corner but this time Chauhan got his gloves in the wayand deflected the ball off the right post.
With seven minutes left, India made the move of thematch when Deepak Thakur picked up the ball from the midfield and moved up, gaveit to Pillay who smartly flicked in between the legs for Thakur to pick it upagain and take a shot but the ball rebounded off Alam's pads and faced with anopen goal, Gagan Ajit Singh shot over the bar.
As the minutes ticked away, a nervous Pakistan sidemade desperate attempts at the Indian goal but the Indian defence stood firm.
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With the final seconds being counted by a battery ofIndian fans waving the tri-colour, the hooter went off bringing to an end whatwas certainly a very high quality of hockey.
As the Indian players celebrated and hugged each other,the star of the day Dhanraj Pillay simply kissed the turf.
PTI
