Champions Trophy Hockey, 2nd semi-final: India vs Pakistan - As it happened...

Welcome to our live coverage of Champions Trophy Hockey tournament second semi-final between India and Pakistan, being played at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.

It's Germany - Pakistan final. India will play five-time successive champions Australia for the third place tomorrow. India's best finish in this competition was a third place finish in 1982.

FOURTH QUARTER

1' - Pakistan scored. Muhammad Arslan Qadir scored his second today.  In the final minute, India seemed to have earned a penalty corner. Free hit given instead. Then, a long corner for India.

2' - After few exchanges, India won a free hit on the dotted line. Busy, busy. Rupinder missed the ball, trap. But recovered to foil Pakistan attack.

4' - Long corner from the penalty corner. Then the sound of ball hitting board disturbed the proceeding but it was disallowed. India rues the missed chance. The ball from outside the D, failed to connect their last man.

5' - Couple of quick attacks from India.Akashdeep and Dharamvir are in full control. Their move earned a penalty corner.

7' - Sunil run down the flank like a possessed horse, beating everyone with his pace. Then from his cross, earned a long corner. India are dictating this phase.

9' - India are keeping the ball inside Pakistan half. But the occasional break from Pakistan are creating enough chances for themselves. In between, India missed a chance. But, from the relay play, Nikkin slotted one for his country. It's 3-3.

10' - Nikkin Thimmaiah missed a sitter.

11' - On the exchange, Pakistan won a penalty corner with Manpreet raising his stick to high. Ruled dangerous play. Muhammad Irfan scored from the chance. It was a great dummy from Muhammad Imran.

12' - Manpreet just missed the target. Very close. He could have opened for either Sunil or Akashdeep, who were waiting.

14' - Sardar again in action, won the ball from a precarious position. But his pass to Sunil was poor.

15' - Indian skipper Sardar had all the time, but his reverse-stick attempt missed the target.

THIRD QUARTER

0' - And there's the hooter. What a period of hockey.

1' - Brilliant goal. Dharamvir Singh's reversed stick was awesome, but the control and cross from Akashdeep was even more delicate. 

2' - A missed time hit allowed Pakistan to create yet another move inside the Indian half. This time, Sardar was in fault and received a green card.

3' - Pakistan goal-scorer received yellow card for a block. Pakistan down to 10-men, but are leading.

5' - Great move from Manpreet, beat three Pakistan players before winning a long corner. In the process, he also forced the umpire to draw a green card for a Pakistan body obstruction.

7' - India won a free-hit inside their own half. Then, pressed hard and won a long corner, thanks to a crunching push from Gurjinder Singh.

8' - Indian full-back Rupinder Pal Singh in action. Produced a timely tackle to deny Pakistan a possible productive move. Then, moments later, he won another ball with left hand trick on the left flank.

10' - Sardar penalised from stick block in a midfield duel. From the following play, India created a move inside the opponent box.

11' - India wasted couple of penalty corner chances with wild drag and poor finishing.

12' - Despite playing with a man down, Pakistan have dictated the terms. But Pakistan skipper Muhammad Imran was caught napping. India earned a penalty corner.

13' - And suddenly, from a cross-field ball, Pakistan scored. But India protested, leading to a video review. The goal stands. Waqas, the scorer.

15' - India re-started from the centre, from left to right. Then, soon, lost possession. From a quick exchange, India won a long corner.

HALF-TIME

Gurjinder Singh opened the scoring in the 12th minute of the match, thanks to a well taken penalty corner. But within five minutes, Pakistan responded with a beautifully crafted field-goal, with Muhammad Qadir guiding the ball from the move.

SECOND QUARTER

0' - India, again, failed to move as a team. And lost another opportunity to score on the break.

1' - Sunil again in action. His pace beat the Pakistan defenders but the supporting cast from Indian camp let him down.

2' - A video referral for India, initiated by Sunil. That was a great move from India. Sunil was pushed, as he claimed, inside the Pakistan box. A penalty or penalty corner coming? From the review, Muhammad Irfan was ruled obstructing Sunil and earned himself a yellow card.

4' - Gurjinder earned a free-hit, but India failed to retain the ball.

5'  - Sunil earned a long corner from his crunching cross, which was deflected from the stick of a Pakistan player. Then, as usual, Pakistan wrested the initiative.

6' - Sardar Singh found Lalit inside the Pakistan box from a distance. What a through ball. But from the following play, Pakistan created their own attack.

8' - In these couple of minutes, India have started to gain some possession. Then, all of sudden Ramandeep Singh gave away the ball in the centre, allowing Pakistan to build their own attack.

9' - Soft attempt from the penalty corner. For experienced Imran Butt, the looping ball was always going to be an easy one.

10' - Pakistan are playing, incisive hockey. Have just won a free-hit on the dotted lines, but a fast Sunil created havoc inside the Pakistan box and earned India's second penalty corner.

12' - Bad move from Akashdeep. Ended up giving away a free-kick to Pakistan after a hard earned possession in the centre. He footed the ball.

13' - Pakistan are riding on the goal to create further inroads in the Indian half. India, on the other hand, are busy countering the one-to-one runs from Pakistani flanks.

14' - Couple of great saves from Sreejesh but Pakistan scored from a beautiful move to bring the score level. Excellent finish from Muhammad Arslan Qadir. His deflection found the top corner inside the roof. India are still 10-men.

FIRST QUARTER

0' - Greta attempt from Pakistan, but the ball off the wide missed the target. The score remains: India 1 - 0 Pakistan

1' - Pakistan won a long corner from a drive inside Indian box, the ball coming off from the stick of Gurjinder. Another long corner and Pakistan have earned their first penalty corner in this dying minutes of first quarter. Kothajit's foot tangled.

2' - Great skill from Kothajit Khadangbam to win the ball and keep in possession but moments later Gurbaj received a yellow card for a stick infringement. He is out for 10 minutes. India down to 10-men.

3 - Gurjinder Singh converted from the penalty corner. There was a referal, asking if Sunil blocked the Pakistan view. But the goal stands. Gurjinder pushed the ball low and wide. Great technique from the young defender.

4' - What a move. India won the first penalty corner and Pakistan goalie was alert to avert any eventuality.

5' - A long ball from the Indian back-line and the ball was there inside the Pakistan box for a while, creating enough buzz. But Pakistan defended well. From the following play, Raghunath survived an unintentional foul.

7' - Deadly cross from Shafqat Rasool but the final connection from his Pakistani team-mate just missed the target. India on pressure, big time in this initial moments.

8' - Sardar won a free-hit in the centre and quickly played on to create an Indian opening inside the Pakistan box. Nothing worth happened though.

10' - Waqas is leading the Pakistan attack from the midfield. In one such move, Indian goalie Sreejesh produced a stunning save -- body on, to deny Pakistan the opener.

11' - Pakistan tried to create an opening from the left flank but an alert Akasdeep was there. Ball went out of play.

12' - Quick attack from India, but the ball went out of play and free hit to Pakistan.

13' - Great work from Indian half-back Manpreet Singh, who did just enough to clear the ball from an dangerous looking position.

14' - But Indian effort was cut short by Pakistan on the right flank.

15' - Pakistan started the proceedings from the centre but India soon won the ball. After few switches in flanks, India tried to penetrate Pakistan defence from the centre.

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Both the teams are in their traditional colours, India in all blue while Pakistan in green. A thunderous applause from the packed crowd at Kalinga Stadium followed the nationals anthems.

The two umpires officiating today's match will be Deon Nel from South Africa and Eduardo Lizana from Spain. Both the teams are already in the field, warming up for the match.

India have never won this tournament. But have performed creditably beating the likes of Holland and Belgium in the way to semi-final. But Pakistan have already lifted the trophy three times.

TEAM SHEETS

India

1- Harjot Singh (GK)
3 - Rupinder Pal Singh (Full-back)
4 - Gurjinder Singh (Defender)
5 - Kothajit Khadangbam (Midfield)
7 - Manpreet Singh (Half-back)
8 - Sardar Singh (Halfback, Captain)
10 - Dharamvir Singh (Forward)
12 - VR Raghunath (Full-back)
13 - Gurbaj Singh (Right-half)
14 - Lalit Upadhyay (Half-back)
15 - Sannuvanda Uthappa (Forward)
16 - P R Sreejesh (GK, Vice-captain)
17 - Danish Mujtaba (Forward)
24 - SV Sunil (Half-back)
26 - Birendra Lakra (Full-back)
27 - Akashdeep Singh (Forward)
31 - Ramandeep Singh (Forward)
32 - Nikkin Thimmaiah (Forward)

Pakistan

1 - Imran Butt (Goalkeeper)
2 - Waqas Muhammad (Right-out)
3 - Muhammad Rizwan Sr. (Forward)
4 - Zohaib Ashraf (Half-back)
5 - Muhammad Dilber (Forward)
6 - Rashid Mehmood (Half-back)
7 - Muhammad Imran (Captain, Full-back)
8 - Muhammad Irfan (Full-back)
9 - Syed Shah (Half-back)
10 - Shafqat Rasool (Forward)
11 -  Muhammad Tousiq
12 - Ammad Shakeel Butt (Half-back)
14 - Muhammad Umar Bhutta (Forward)
15 - Tasawar Abbas
16 - Imran Butt (GK)
17 -  Ali Shan
18 - Muhammad Arslan Qadir
22 - Amjad Ali (GK)

PREVIEW

For the third time this year, India and Pakistan will play each other in a high stake hockey match. The winner of today's match in Bhubaneswar will play Germany, who defeated defending champions Australia, in the final of the Champions Trophy.

After winning the Asian Games gold medal match in Incheon, India will start as favourites in the Kalinga Stadium, not to mention thousands of vocal home supporters rooting for Sardar SIng and Co. In the Asian Games, Pakistan won the preliminary round but India won the all important match. Tickets for the match has already been sold out a day before the match.

Indian team has been playing exceptional hockey thanks to their new found energy and reputation as Asiad champions but Pakistan slightly look tentative coming into the last four match-up. Their previous forms will hold little importance as Pakistan will try to win the match at all cost.

This is an one-off chance for either side to announce their resurrection as a world power in hockey. For long, India and Pakistan have been the power-houses of hockey. But the sub-continental domination has ceased to exist since the advent of fast-past and somehow physical hockey.