Indians cornered again

RAWALPINDI, MARCH 1: No lessons were learnt from the defeat at Peshawar. The Indians remained clueless about penalty-corner conversions as t...

RAWALPINDI, MARCH 1: No lessons were learnt from the defeat at Peshawar. The Indians remained clueless about penalty-corner conversions as they crashed to their second successive defeat in two days to Pakistan in the eight-Test hockey series.

It was again a story of Indian dominance that ended in heartburn and dejection at the Army Stadium here today. And, what could well have been a morale boosting victory, turned into a bitter 1-2 defeat as the visitors contrived to fritter away a penalty-stroke in the second session.

As many as nine penalty-corners were wasted and there was no uneven circle standing in their way, today. Worse, Ramandeep Singh who had managed to get a goal with a weak penalty-stroke yesterday, flicked straight into the pads of goalkeeper Ahmed Alam today.

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The hosts, then, have ensured that the Habib Bank trophy, which is to be awarded for the Pakistan leg, remains home. With their mid-fielders hopelessly outclassed, and their star forwards struggling to beat a compact and assuredIndian defence, Pakistan made most of the opportunities that came their way, to go 2-0 up in the series.

While Shahbaz Ahmed Senior once again underlined his class, setting up Kamran Ashraf for the first goal, penalty-corner specialist Suhail Abbas show-cased his proficiency, beating AB Subbaiah with a powerful push to the right corner to make it 2-0.

Ramandeep adept in the mid-field spoilt his card with the missed stroke and the foul on Shahbaz. The resultant penalty-corner, Pakistan’s third, led to their second goal.

AB Subbaiah was better composed today and twice foiled Kamran Ashraf from close. Dilip Tirkey, although disappointing with penalty-corner hits, had an outstanding game together with Lazarus Barla.

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Pakistan took the lead midway through the first half — a goal resulting from a swift counter-attack after India wasted their second penalty-corner. Shahbaz latched on to the clearance by Danish Kalim inside his own half and glided past three to send a cross from the left to Kamran Ashraf, whodeflected it easily past a bemused Subbiaih.

While the Indians kept attacking in the second session, ableit without success, Pakistan made most of Ramandeep’s tackle on Shahbaz to shoot home through Suhail from the resultant penalty-corner.

Pillay pulled one back for India, scoring from close after being fed by Brojen Singh in the 43rd minute.

The Indians attacked relentlessly but piled agony upon themselves by spurning chance after chance including Ramandeep’s miss from the dreaded spot. The final hooter put paid to the visitors’ misery.