India broke the shackles to register a 2-0 win overarch-rivals Pakistan in the eighth and final hockey Test even though thevisitors claimed the series 4-2.
India, who came here having already lost the series,rode on fine goals by Sandeep Michael (17th minute) and Tushar Khandekar (21st)to chalk out the victory and salvage some pride in the first series between thearch-rivals in five years.
This was also India's first win of the series on homesoil as their earlier victory had come during the Pakistan leg, in the secondTest in Quetta.
Pakistan, who came to India with a 2-1 lead, won inDelhi and Amritsar while the Test in Chandigarh ended in a draw.
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India came to Hyderabad with happy memories of thevenue where they had a cent per cent record against Pakistan, having won theearlier two encounters convincingly.
Both the matches were held during the Afro-Asian Gameslast year when India won the league contest before going on to beat the sameside in the final for the title. Captain Dilip Tirkey returned from injury, thatforced him to miss two Tests, to guide the team to victory at the GochibowliStadium.
Though the series was already lost, their was pride atstake and the players did not disappoint as they played as a cohesive unit byusing the both the flanks well to put pressure on the Pakistani defence beforeMichael's goal gave the hosts a 1-0 lead.
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Khandekar initiated a fine move when he had a good rundown the left before giving the ball to Vikram Pillay who returned the ball tothe forward, whose goal-bound reverse hit was deflected in by Michael.
Khandekar made it 2-0 in favour four minutes later withan equally brilliant goal that put the hosts in the driver's seat.
Prabodh Tirkey had a good solo run on a counter attackfollowing a penalty corner and at the half-line sent it across to Khandekar whorolled the ball inside the circle before taking the shot that beat the Pakistanigoalkeeper all ends up.
The Pakistani custodian could hardly react as thepowerfully hit went through his leg, prompting Khandekar to pump his fist in theair before being being joined in by his jubilant teammates in the celebration.
Adrian D'Souza, who continued his fine show to win theman of the series award, shone by denying the new world record holder SohailAbbas from scoring from three penalty corners in the first half.
He charged out every time Abbas took his shot denyingthe ace drag-flicker enough space to put the setpieces into good use.
In the process D'Souza also earned a green card fromthe neutral umpire Amarjit Singh for charging out too early on more than oneoccasion.
Pakistan looked off-colour in the match which wasplayed under lights and had no bite in their attack.
Their misery was compounded by the failure of Abbas,who failed to convert as many as five of the six penalty corners the visitorsearned.
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Despite the loss, it was a memorable outing for Abbaswho walked under an umbrella of hockey sticks formed by the Indian and Pakistaniplayers just before the start of the match.
The penalty corner expert was also given 'Best AchieverAward' consisting of a cash prize of $1,000 while D'Souza got $2,000 for winningthe best player of the tournament award.
PTI
