India ease past Pakistan
India outplayed bitter rivals Pakistan in a 3-1 victory in the Hero Asia Cup at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium yesterday, but the quality of the encounter hardly matched the pre-match expectations of the marquee fixture of the tournament's group stage.
Odds were heavily stacked in favour of India as they had come into this competition on the back of five big-margin wins against their arch-rivals, and while the men in blue were less than convincing, they were clinical enough to dispose of Pakistan and clinch the top spot in Pool A.
Sjoerd Marijne's side dominated the first quarter and deservedly took the lead in the second minute of the second quarter, with Kangujam Chinglensana hitting the back of the board after being left unmarked on a pass from Akashdeep Singh.
India doubled their lead in the 43rd minute when Ramandeep Singh flicked home a long push from winger Varun Kumar before Harmanpreet Singh made it 3-0 two minutes later by converting the team's second penalty corner of the game.
Pakistan mounted heavy pressure in the last two quarters and eventually managed to score one in the 49th minute when Ali Shan found the back of the net with a reverse hit after Arslan Muhammad's initial attempt was blocked by India skipper Manpreet Singh.
This victory means India finished on top of Pool A with a hundred percent win record and will play against Pool B's second-place finishers in their opening Super 4s match on Wednesday.
India skipper Manpreet Singh was happy with the result, but felt the team needs to make improvements in the upcoming matches. “We are not fully satisfied and we need to improve in some areas. There are some technical things we need to work on. However, I am happy with the result as a win is the most important thing.”
Pakistan captain Mohammad Irfan felt his team played better than previous matches and the fate of the match could have been different had they taken their chances. “We started the match pretty well and earned a few penalty corners. Had we taken the lead at that stage, the match could have been different. We made a few mistakes in a few areas but overall we played pretty well.”
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