India missed out on a great chance to square the seriesas they squandered a two-goal advantage to be held 4-4 by Pakistan in athrilling encounter in the fourth hockey Test at Lahore today.
India, who were leading 4-2 with just 13 minutes to gofor the match, paid the price for being a trifle casual as their arch rivalsbounced back strongly to score two goals in a span of 10 minutes to maintaintheir 2-1 lead in the series.
A mid-field blunder saw Akhtar Ali scoring in the 57thminute before a 67th minute strike by Rehan Butt helped Pakistan level the scorein the final match of the Pakistan-leg at the National Hockey Stadium.
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The teams will now proceed to India tomorrow to playthe remaining four matches of the Friendship Series to be held in Delhi (October4), Chandigarh (October 6), Amritsar (October 8) and Hyderabad (October 10).
Vikram Pillay (15th), Sandeep Singh (39th), ArjunHalappa (49th) Ignace Tirkey (51st) scored for the Indians while Pakistan struckthrough Sohail Abbas (14th and 42nd), Akhtar Ali (57th) and Rehan Butt (67th).
The Indians played superbly for most part of the matchbut a sloppy display towards the end dashed their hopes of winning the match andsquaring the series.
The match saw an intense battle for supremacy betweenthe bitter rivals as both the sides dished out some exciting stuff much to thedelight of the capacity crowd.
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The Indians, who seemed to be improving with everyouting, were no doubt the better side in the first half with their forwardsdisplaying good co-ordination putting the Pakistan defence and goalkeeper SalmanAkbar under tremendous pressure.
Halappa, Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep Michael, thethree strikers, looked in very good touch as they made some dangerous moves butfailed to capitalise on those due to poor finishing.
Despite the fine show by the Indians, it was the homeside which took the lead against the run of play when Abbas scored in the 14thminute from the only penalty corner the side got in the first half.
Abbas' flick along the ground beat goalkeeper AdrianD'Souza gave the ace penalty corner expert his 264th goal, just three less thanthe world record holder Paul Litjens of Holland.
The 20,000-odd spectators watching the match jumpedwith joy when Abbas struck, but their celebration was shortlived as Pillayequalised a minute later.
Viren Rasquinha followed a fine run with a gentle pushwhich was padded away by Akbar. Pillay, left unmarked inside the circle, scoredoff the rebound to draw level.
Both the sides made some frantic efforts to take thelead before the break but failed to do so in their attempts.
Pakistan got a great chance to make it 2-1 in theirfavour when Butt ran a solo for almost 60 yards dodging several Indians beforeunleashing a crisp shot which went straight to D'Souza who had no problem inpadding it away to safety.
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The second half saw the Indians coming hard againsttheir opponents with some aggressive play, a move which paid dividendimmediately as Sandeep gave the side a 2-1 lead.
Sandeep earned a penalty corner with a clever hit froma free-hit from just outside the circle and scored from the setpiece.
However, the home side took just three minutes to levelwhen Abbas scored from the second penalty corner.
Spectacular field goals by Halappa and Ignace Tirkeyrattled the Pakistanis as the Indians wrested the initiative into the lastquarter of the match.
Despite taking the two-goal lead, the Indians neverslowed down the game, which was perhaps to be blamed for the resurgence of thePakistanis in the game.
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Ali's strike following a counter set up by Butt gavethe home side the confidence they were looking for to bounce back into thematch.
India failed to stop Pakistan from earning a penaltycorner with just three minutes to go and though D'Souza did well to stop theAbbas flick, the defenders were late in clearing the ball which was tapped homeby Butt.
PTI
