Maintaining their winning streak, India defeated arch-rival Pakistan by a 2-1 margin to cruise to the semi-finals of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy 2024 in Moqi on Saturday.
This was the final group-stage match for India which was evenly played by the two competitors.
The match was dominated by Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh’s (13′, 19′) who scored two goals to give India the needed win in the high-octane game.
Pakistan took an early lead after Ahmad Nadeem (8′) put the ball in the net to give an initial jolt to the Olympic bronze medalist team.
Pakistan began their campaign in the match in a structured manner and remained dominant on the field in the initial hours.
Singh scored the equaliser for India in the 13th minute of the game which provided the match with the much-needed momentum.
Despite some close encounters, the first quarter remains 1-1 with none of the teams meeting success at the end.
The second quarter began with a bang for the Men In Blue after Singh scored the goal in the 21st minute to move 2-1 ahead in the clash.
Pakistan tried to counter in the third quarter and dominated the proceedings but failed to provide any breakthrough.
In the final quarter of the match, India earned back-to-back penalties but none of them were converted with Pakistan defending successfully.
Ashraf Waheed Rana received a 10-minute yellow card for a physical foul on Jugraj Singh in India’s circle and the ‘Men In Blue’ tried to capitalise on the situation but the situation remained the same with no goals being scored in the half.
At the end of the final quarter, Manpreet Singh received a yellow card, leaving both teams with 10 men apiece.
Despite India dominating all other encounters so far in the tournament, Pakistan gave a tough battle to the current champions in the high-voltage encounter.
Hero of the Match, Nilakanta Sharma was quoted as saying by the Hockey India website, “I know when I have the ball, I don’t want to lose the ball, so just protect the ball, that’s the motive for me. Pakistan gave us a wonderful fight. Although we won the match, we were not happy because we kept losing the ball and it got us in trouble, so we need to improve.”
