Dhaka: A dominant India continued their unbeaten run in the tournament and thrashed arch rivals Pakistan 4-0 to sail into the final of the 10th men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament here Saturday. India who needed just a draw to qualify for the final, in the process notched up their seventh successive win over Pakistan, and fourth in 2017.
After a goalless first half, the marauding Indians scored all the four goals in the second session – three field strikes and one through penalty corner.
Satbir Singh (39th minute), Harmanpreet Singh (51st), Lalit Upadhyay (52nd) and Gurjant Singh (57th) were the scorers for India.
By virtue of this win, India not only topped the Super 4 stage with seven points, but also continued their domination over Pakistan.
Contrary to the result, the Indians were slow to get off the blocks, while Pakistan were the better side in terms of possession in the first two quarters. The ‘Green Brigade’ earned three penalty corners to in the first quarter, but wasted all.
After Ramandeep Singh’s shot was saved by Pakistan goalkeeper Amjad Ali in the 23rd minute, India defended well to deny their rivals from another short corner. Minutes later, Harmanpreet hit the cross bar from India’s second penalty.
However, India looked more organised after the change of ends and dominated the proceedings in the final two quarters.
Satbir gave India the lead in the after receiving a fine back stick pass from Lalit. Minutes later, Harmanpreet’s effort from India’s third set piece was saved by Amjad Ali.
India wasted two more penalty corners in a span of two minutes as Amjad Ali made multiple saves to deny their opponents.
India pressed on the gas in the final 10 minutes and scored three goals in a span of six minutes to run away with the game.
While Harmanpreet scored his seventh goal of the tournament from India’s sixth penalty corner, Lalit made it 3-0 a minute later by pouncing on a loose ball inside the ‘D’. India added salt to Pakistan’s wounds when Gurjant slotted home three minutes from the final hooter after receiving a precision pass from Akshdeep Singh from the right flank.
Press trust of India