Sport - Hockey   

India overcomes Pakistan, enters final

By S. Thyagarajan

AP

India's Prabjot Singh being congratulated by captain Dhanraj Pillay after he scored the winning goal in the match against Pakistan in a tri-nation hockey tournament in Perth, Australia, on Saturday. India won the match 2-0 and will play Australia in the final on Sunday.

India 2 - Pakistan 0

Australia `A' 7 - Australia 2

Perth May 31. By any yardstick it was not a classic of those halcyon days. Nor was it was an exhibition of the inimitable sub-continental aesthetics of touch, technique and tactics. But it definitely was a tense, close combat, in which India stood out as the better side to pick the passage to the final of the tri-nation hockey tournament against Australia on Sunday.

Even a draw was sufficient for India to make the grade but Saturday's result left nothing for any other configuration. Pakistan has lost all its three matches in the event, while India has lost 0-2 to Australia.

The euphoria that sprouts as a reaction to the win against Pakistan however was not lost on the goodly crowd, which created a lively and colourful atmosphere at the Perth Hockey Stadium that was dotted with Indian Tricolour. One could even spot a drummer in the crowd adding to the mood of gaiety. The victory celebrations included a vigorous bhangra dance on the field by members of local Sikh community.

It would be absurd to get complacent or arrogant after today's outcome today. Rarely have we seen a Pakistan outfit looking as pathetic and devoid of temperament & technical excellence in recent years as the one here. Even the few who are definitely ranked as skilled enough for this grade produced nothing of note. Perhaps, it is not an exaggeration to state that the poor show by Pakistan facilitated an easy win for India, which missed chances galore.

In less than a quarter of an hour from the start, India picked up four penalty corners but the lead could be obtained only from a penalty stroke converted by Baljit Singh Dhillon.

A scorcher from Tirkey was stopped by goal-keeper Ahmed Alam but Dilawar Hussain came in the way of a flick by Dhillon. Umpire Pullman showed the spot and India took the lead.

Notwithstanding a superbly working mid-field where the enthusiastic Viren Resquinha symbolised the virtues of efficiency, the attack suffered from want of cohesion.

Viren was ubiquitous and intercepted with telling effect, be it the quick sally from Shabir Khan, Taushif Jawaad or Rehan Bhat. Bimal Lakra was an able ally, and so was left half Ignace Tirkey.

A word of praise is also due to the hard work by Jugraj Singh, and the usually competent Dilip Tirkey.

Where India was totally found wanting was in the frontline, which lacked punch, precision and, most of all, consistency. There were several moments when an Indian forward inside the circle hesitated in taking a shot. Almost everyone showed a tendency to make a simple task look complex.

It was an eye-sore to see Mukesh fumble repeatedly. Mukesh is hardly enhancing his stature by continuing to remain at this level. He is a spent force and there can be no two opinions about it.

In the early minutes, Saini produced a splendid pass but Mukesh flicked the ball out with only the goal-keeper Alam in front. He simply was unable to trap the ball and wasted a handful of openings. In the second half too, Mukesh flunked a chance in a goal-mouth scrimmage following a penalty corner.

As a creator in the frontline, Dhanraj had his moments, though not as many as he would have like liked. Always shackled by more than one defender, he found breaking through difficult.

Though Baljit Dhillon managed to rip through quite a few times, he was also cramped and looked very much out of touch. He could have hoisted the lead from the second penalty corner from Dhanraj Pillay but shot wide.

Gagan played well in patches and Prabhjot Singh, who was not having a good tournament, regained some of his confidence by taking credit for the second goal.

Pakistan had a glorious start with Rehan Bhat bursting down the line and producing a perfect cross only to see Shabir Hussain making a mess of it. Then, Devesh Chauhan in the India goal neatly stopped a flashy drive by Taushif Jawaad.

The dominance seemed ephemeral as India took charge in the mid-field. Thereafter the mid-fielders never allowed any Pakistani attack to prosper. Only late in the second half was there some hectic activity in the Indian zone but the defence was tough enough to smother any hint of danger.

Gazanfar Ali is no Sohail Abbas and the two penalty corners that surfaced midway in the second half did not help Pakistan anyway.

The moment that was etched on the mind was the second goal by Prabhjot. Gagan Ajit Singh paved the way with an astute pass and Prabhjot did the rest, although the Pakistanis were not convinced about the verdict. Umpire Adam Kearns had to reconfirm the decision with his colleague, Pullman.

The Indian camp is elated by the verdict but skipper Dhanraj Pillay said that the team had to devise a better strategy to counter the pacy and pugnacious Aussies on a turf which is fast and bumpy.

Sheikh Shahnaz, the manager of the Pakistani team, attributed the poor performance to inexperience of the youngsters.

In the last four meetings, after the Champions Trophy, India has won three, losing the bronze medal match at Cologne. India had won 4-3 at Busan and 2-0 this afternoon.

Interestingly, the Australian `A' team thrashed the National team by whopping margin. Though the outcome has no relevance for the final, the victory was comprehensive and convincing.

The `A' team slotted the lead through Ben Bishop and midway through, Lucas Judge increased the lead. Before half-time, Jaime Dwyer narrowed the margin following a penalty corner.

After the break, Grant Schubert struck twice and Andrew Smith contributed one, while Travis Brook hit in late in the match to minimise the margin.

However, before the hooter, Smith struck again followed by Schubert.

Sunday's matches: Australia `A v Pakistan (10-30 a.m. IST); Final: India v Australia (12-30 p.m.).

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