Amstelveen: India beat Pakistan 5-3 in a thrilling encounter at the Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup at Amstelveen in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
With this win, India proceeded to the second round while Pakistan was ousted from the tournament.
India dominated the first quarter but Pakistan put up a fight in the second and third. There were as many as four goals shared equally between the two sides in nine minutes in the second quarter. India needed to win or draw this match to go through to the second round.
Harmanpreet Singh and Abhishek scored to give India a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Harmanpreet scored again almost immediately at the start of the second quarter but Shahid Hannan scored Pakistan’s first goal of the match to reduce the gap with back to two.
Abhishek then scored another but Pakistan got one back with Sufyan Khan converting a penalty corner.
India then restored their three-goal lead again with Hardik Singh scoring from a penalty stroke. Hannan scored again early in the final quarter and that was the way it ended.
India started the match with three points after opening their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Wales. Harmanpreet’s side then suffered a 2-4 defeat against England. On the other hand, Pakistan began their World Cup campaign with a 1-4 loss to England before drawing with Wales.
Pakistan’s exit from the tournament in the first round itself is an embarrassment as it has the most number of World Cup titles – four – to its name.
