Hulunbuir (China). Thanks to two goals scored by captain Harmanpreet Singh on penalty corners, defending champions India continued their unbeaten campaign and entered the semi-finals of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 here on Saturday. This is India’s fifth consecutive win in the six-team round robin tournament. Pakistan took the lead through a goal by Ahmed Nadeem (8th minute) but Harmanpreet Singh (13th and 19th minutes) converted two penalty corners to give India the win. This was Pakistan’s first defeat in this tournament.
Both India and Pakistan had earlier qualified for the last four. With this win, India has maintained its dominance over Pakistan since 2016. The last encounter between the two teams was at the Hangzhou Asian Games where India defeated Pakistan 10-2. A few months before this, the Indians defeated Pakistan 4-0 in the Chennai leg of the ACT. In the Asia Cup in Jakarta, India’s young team held Pakistan to a 1-1 draw while in the 2021 ACT in Dhaka, India defeated Pakistan 4-3 to win the bronze medal. Like any match between India and Pakistan, the first quarter saw both teams giving their best to win.
The Indians dominated the proceedings early but Pakistan grew in confidence as the match progressed. For Pakistan, Hannan Shahid did a brilliant job in midfield which rattled the Indian defence and Nadeem put the ball in the Indian goal to put his team ahead. Stunned by the goal, India kept their composure and continued to attack. The team earned their first penalty corner in the 13th minute and skipper Harmanpreet scored with a powerful drag flick to the left of Pakistan goalkeeper Munneeb. The Indians continued to pressurise in the second quarter and earned their second penalty corner in the 19th minute.
Once again, the Pakistani defence had no answer and Harmanpreet’s precise shot put India ahead 2-1. In the second quarter, India managed to keep the ball in possession. Pakistan created chances to penetrate the opponent circle on several occasions. Just 45 seconds before the second half, Pakistan had a chance to equalise but it failed. The Indians dominated even after the change of ends and got their third penalty corner in the 37th minute. But could not score. Pakistan then got four consecutive penalty corners but could not penetrate the Indian defence.
In the final quarter, both teams made continuous attacks. India got three more penalty corners but failed to score. The match also saw a heated exchange between Harmanpreet and Pakistan’s Ashraf Waheed Rana. This happened after Rana shouldered Jugraj Singh inside the Indian circle. Jugraj fell down due to this push and was moaning in pain. The field umpire and Pakistan captain Butt and other players from both the teams ran to control the situation. Rana was shown a yellow card. Meanwhile, in the first match of the day, the match between Malaysia and Korea ended in a 3-3 draw. The top four teams from the round robin format will qualify for the semi-finals to be held on September 16 while the final will be held on September 17.
