Holi revelry broke out a day in advance as India outplayed arch-rivals Pakistan 4-1 in their Hockey World Cup opener here Sunday
Holi revelry broke out a day in advance as India outplayed arch-rivals Pakistan 4-1 in their Hockey World Cup opener here Sundayu00a0
Playing a fast-paced attacking hockey, the Indians mesmerised the wildly cheering, near-capacity crowd at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, opening a 2-0 lead at the halftime and then heaping two more goals in the second session to begin their cup campaign with a bang.
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Shivendra Singh opened the scoring for the hosts in the 27th minute before Sandeep Singh (35th, 57th) and Prabhjot Singh (37th) consolidated the lead.
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Pakistan's ace penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas pulled one back late in the game (59th), converting their fifth penalty corner, but by then the writing was already clear on the wall in the first World Cup encounter between the two sides in 24 years.
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Incidentally, it is the same venue where India had tasted one of their biggest defeat against Pakistan when they lost 7-1 in the Asian Games in 1982.
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India's last World Cup win over their sub-continental competitors came 35 years back in Kuala Lumpur when they chalked out a 2-1 victory in the final.
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Both teams took a measure of each other before India raided the Pakistan defence repeatedly, outpacing the tourists. The hosts also defended well and marked the ace Pakistani strike Rehan Butt, to restict his movement.
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India went ahead in the 25th minute when Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar stopped Sandeep's penalty corner strike, but Shivendra was right in position to score off the rebound, sending the crowd into raptures.
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Pakistan tried to regroup and their moves earned them a penalty corner. The visitors though were a shade unlucky as world's top scorer Sohail's powerful hit came off the upright.
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It could well be called the defining moment of the match as the Indian players realised that luck was on their side and went all out against their opponents.
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India's drag flick expert Sandeep made it 2-0 in the last minutes of the first half with a clean penalty corner strike.
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India were totally dominating in the second half as Pakistan, which had got better of India in the last three matches, including the Champions Challenge semifinal last year, looked off colour.
