Breda (the Netherlands): India once again reasserted their supremacy over Pakistan as they clinically decimated their arch rivals 4-0 in the opening match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament, here Saturday.
Coming into the tournament on the back of a disastrous Commonwealth Games campaign at Gold Coast, where they finished a disappointing fourth, the Indians scored four fantastic field goals to make intentions clear that they meant business here.
Ramandeep, who was dropped from the CWG squad, answered his critics in style finding the net in 26th minute before young Dilpreet Singh (54th), Mandeep Singh (57th) and Lalit Upadhayay (60th) completed the rout. They will next play Olympic champions Argentina, Sunday.
The Indians looked a compact side in all departments of the game with the strikers utilizing the opportunities that came their way while the defence came up with a superlative show during the entire 60 minutes to keep Pakistani forwards at bay.
The dominating victory also can be looked upon as a sweet revenge for India after Pakistan, who are being coached by former India coach and High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, scored a late equaliser to eke out a 1-1 draw in Gold Coast.
The Indians started positively and applied pressure on the Pakistani defence from the word go and in the process secured a penalty corner in the 13th minute but Harmanpreet Singh’s attempt was saved by goalkeeper Imran Butt. India got another set piece soon after the start of second quarter but once again wasted the chance.
But it didn’t take long for India to break the deadlock with Ramandeep deflecting in a Simranjeet Singh’s reverse pass into the Pak goal.
Pakistan, however, came out all guns blazing after the change of ends and dominated the proceedings in the third quarter with repeated raids but failed to break the resolute Indian defence.
Two minutes into third quarter, Ali Shan scored an opportunistic goal but Pakistan to their dismay found it disallowed for a foul after Harmanpreet asked for the referral. Minutes later, Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made a fine save to deny Toseeq Arshad.
However, in the last quarter it was India all the way. They doubled the lead through 17-year-old Dilpreet, who beautifully picked up a long pass from Simranjeet and then dodged past an onrushing Butt to slot home.
Down by two goals, Pakistan were forced to withdraw their goalkeeper for an extra player but the move backfired.
First Mandeep tucked the ball into an empty net, a measured long ball from Varun Kumar and then Lalit dived full stretch to deflect in Ramandeep’s pass just at the stroke of hooter.