Asia Cup Hockey 2017: India beat Pakistan 3-1 to top Pool A

Pakistan, the winners of the first three editions of the tournament, started the third-quarter spritely, but two strikes from India in quick succession, in the 43rd and 45th minutes, dampened their spirits.

Courtesy: Hockey India

New Delhi: India produced a disciplined performance to beat their arch-rivals Pakistan 3-1 in an engrossing Pool A match of the 2017 Asia Cup Hockey at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday. (AS IT HAPPENED)

Manpreet Singh & Co showed their superiority over Pakistan by producing yet another convincing win. Today's win was only the extension of their domination over Pakistan.

India entered the match as the obvious favourites, having beaten Pakistan in their last two meeting – in the Hockey World League Semi-Final in London earlier this year. In those matches, India had scored 13 goals and conceded just one.

But India started the proceedings on a cautious note, rolling the ball and double-checking their every move even as Pakistan got the first real chance of the match in the fifth minute.

Then, after a series of attacks and counter-attacks, India scored the first goal of the match with Chinglensana Kangujam finishing a Lalit Kumar move with an unstoppable strike in the 17th minute.

Despite the lead, Indian continued to play a waiting game, with Sardar Singh manning the defensive line. The score remained 1-0 in favour of India at the half-time.

Pakistan, the winners of the first three editions of the tournament, started the third-quarter spritely, but two strikes from India in quick succession, in the 43rd and 45th minutes, sure dampened their spirits.

They had just won yet another PC, but India launched a counter-attack with Ramandeep scoring the second goal with a brilliant finish in the 43rd minute. A couple of minutes later, the tournament's leading goalscorer Harmanpreet converted a PC for India. It was his fifth strike overall.

But the decisive moment of the match came a little while earlier in the 34th minute when two Pakistan players were shown yellow cards in a space of seconds.

Rizwan Sr was the first get the five-minute penalty for his lunge on lunge on Harmanpreet, then seconds later Shakil Butt also got a yellow card for his stick check.

Pakistani players continued to run hard, probing Indian defence as one would expect from a proud hockey nation.

Despite playing with nine men, Pakistan played well for a couple of minutes, creating chances. But Indian defence was up to the task.

In the 50th minute, Pakistan scored the what it turned out to be their consolation goal through a neat Ali Shan finish.

Pakistan continued to dominate the quarter, but India played safe, thus avoiding leaking further goal.

The win helped India top the group with three wins from three outings. Pakistan finished second. Both the sides have qualified for the Super 4s, where the top teams from both the pool will play in a round-robin format before the knockouts.

India had previously defeated Japan (5-1) and hosts Bangladesh (7-0) in the run up their crucial game against the sworn foes. India needed a morale-boosting win ahead of the next round, and they did it in style.