Harmanpreet’s brace hands India 2-1 win over Pakistan in ACT hockey

HULUNBURI — Skipper Harmanpreet Singh continued his golden run of form that he has been carrying since Paris Olympics, converting two penalty corners to become the chief architect of India’s narrow 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in their final league match of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Saturday.

It was India’s fifth consecutive win in the six-team round-robin competition.

Pakistan took the lead through Ahmad Nadeem (8th minute) before Harmanpreet (13th, 19th) converted two penalty corners to fashion India’s victory over familiar foes. It was Pakistan’s first loss in this tournament.

Both India and Pakistan have already qualified for the semifinals. The victory also enabled India to maintain their supremacy over Pakistan since 2016.

In their previous meeting at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, India thrashed Pakistan 10-2. A few months before that, the Indians beat Pakistan 4-0 during the Chennai edition of the ACT.

At the Asia Cup in Jakarta (2022), a relatively young Indian side held Pakistan to a 1-1 draw while at the 2021 ACT in Dhaka, India defeated Pakistan 4-3 to clinch the bronze medal.

In other matches of the day, Malaysia and Korea played out a 3-3 draw, while hosts China beat Japan 2-0.

Paris Olympic bronze medallist and clear favourites, India will take on Korea in the semifinal, while Pakistan will face China.

As like any Indo-Pak hockey match, the first quarter saw end-to-end action with both the teams giving their all to gain the bragging rights.

The Indians started brightly dominating the early share of exchanges but Pakistan grew in confidence as the match progressed.

India were at the receiving end for the first time in the tournament when Pakistan drew the first blood.

It was a selfless Hannan Shahid whose brilliant work from the midfield split the Indian defence and Nadeem found himself at the right place to direct the ball into the Indian goal.

A stunned India kept up their composure and patiently built their attacks and secured their first penalty corner in the 13th minute. Skipper Harmanpreet scored with a powerful drag-flick to the left of a hapless Pakistan goalkeeper Munneb.

The Indians continued to press in the second quarter and gained their second penalty corner in the 19th minute and once again Pakistan defence had no answer as Harmanpreet was bang on target with India taking decisive 2-1 lead.

While India were the better side in terms of possession in the second quarter, Pakistan also had their chances, penetrating the rival circle on quite a few occasions.

Just 45 seconds from half-time Pakistan had an opportunity to draw level through a penalty corner but they wasted the chance as Sufyan Khan’s flick, which hit the top of cross-bar, was rejected for a raised ball.

The Indians sustained possession after the change of ends and secured their third penalty corner in the 37th minute, but Pakistan defended bravely.

Thereafter, a sustained spell of attacks helped Pakistanis to bag four penalty corners in quick succession but lacked the firepower to breach the Indian defence.

In the last quarter, both the sides relentlessly attacked and India secured three more short corners but failed to convert anyone of them.

The match also witnessed a heated encounter between Harmanpreet and Pakistan’s Ashraf Waheed Rana after the latter shouldered Jugraj Singh inside the Indian circle.

Jugraj was felled by the impact and was seen grimacing in pain. Harmanpreet and Jarmanpreet Singh were quick to counter the offender.

The on-field umpires and Pakistan captain Ammad Butt and other players of both teams rushed in to control the situation but Rana was shown yellow card, which resulted in a 10-minute suspension after the umpire went for a referral for a serious misconduct.