Well, that was an anti-climax. Powered by skipper Harmanpreet Singh, India beat Pakistan 4-0 in the final group stage match of the Asian Champions Trophy to top the stage, with Pakistan finishing fifth and outside the semifinal spots. Harmanpreet finished with a brace, and the tally was added to by Jugraj Singh and Akashdeep Singh.
The game started with high drama after Pakistan had the ball inside the Indian net within the opening two minutes: the umpires gave it as a goal before India reviewed and it was adjudged that the ball had come off the body of the striker. Pakistan continued to make inroads through the opening quarter, dribbling well down the flanks while mixing and matching it with lofted long balls in behind for their pacy forwards. Even though India had more possession, Pakistan were arguably the more threatening side... till the last minute of the quarter when India won a penalty corner (PC). Up stepped Harmanpreet, in went a low driven thunderbolt of a flick that settled in the bottom right corner. 1-0 India and that was it.
The second quarter opened with India being a little more assured in possession, and halfway through the period it paid off when they won another PC. Once again, Harmanpreet made no mistake, this time powering it through the keeper's legs. The India captain was the leading scorer of this tournament entering this match, and he extended it with this seventh goal (he has three more than the next best). Veteran keeper PR Sreejesh was called in to make a superb one-on-one save but there wasn't much more goalmouth action at his end in the quarter.
The second half saw Pakistan attack even more aggressively, knowing that they needed to atleast close the score-gap to remain in the competition. India absorbed all the pressure, sat back and countered at will. One of those counters led to another penalty corner, which Jugraj Singh converted in style, smashing it into the top left corner.
The fourth quarter was all India as Pakistan ran out of steam - fitness had been identified, pre-match by Pakistan coach Mohammad Saqlain as one of India's strengths - and the hosts attacked at will. Selvam Karthi missed a one-on-one (much to the disappointment of the partisan home crowd cheering on a local boy), and Akashdeep contrived to miss a tap-in from a yard out (after good work from Karthi and Hardik Singh in the build-up), but the latter made up for it soon enough. After Mandeep Singh did well to get a shot off from inside the circle, Akashdeep stuck his stick in to pull off a cheeky deflection right in front of the keeper and make it four.
After that goal went in, the quarter petered out as India passed the ball amongst themselves under very little pressure.
In the earlier matches, Malaysia beat South Korea 1-0, while Japan beat China 2-1. China and Pakistan will play out a 5th/6th place match at 3.30 PM on Friday, August 11 and that will be followed by Malaysia vs South Korea at 6 PM and India vs Japan at 8.30 PM.
Oh, and you can relive minute-by-minute action of the India-Pakistan encounter right below, on our live blog:
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PREVIEW
India vs Pakistan. Pakistan vs India. However you put it, whichever sport you talk about, this is one of those rivalries which make it worth your while to drop what you're doing and give it 100% of your attention. Well, 200% if you're Mandeep Singh.
The hockey version of this rivalry may not be as fiercely competitive as it once was with Pakistan's performances declining sharply over the past decade, but the pure emotion of it all remains intact. And no one in the India camp is taking Pakistan lightly. Captain Harmanpreet Singh, speaking ahead of the match, said "It [the rivalry] has become a lot more different now. Both were very good teams back then. But it's not that we are winning easily against them [now]. They have the same mentality, playing styles are same and they also play attacking hockey."
And he's right to say this. Pakistan may have won only one match in four this tournament (2-1 vs struggling China) but they've played some exciting, attacking hockey only to be let down by the finish (or the final pass). Even though Pakistan's assistant coach and former superstar striker Rehan Butt downplayed their chances ahead of the match ("India are ranked 4th in the world, Pakistan are 16th. Our match right now is not at all against them. If these young boys go out there, fight and stand equal against India, that is a win for us as coaches"), they would be quietly confident of surprising India in front of the partisan Chennai crowd at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium.
India haven't played particularly well yet under new coach Craig Fulton, even if they showed against Malaysia that they are dangerous if they hit their stride. Pakistan head coach Mohammad Saqlain pointed that out saying, "India don't play with a structure, they rely only on their physical fitness and penalty corner ability."
Fulton will want to answer that on the field. And that's just the kind of extra spice this encounter always brings with it.