‘We will fare better against India at Asiad’: Pakistan coach Saqlain Muhammad

Pakistan’s drag flicker Muhammad Khan (second from left) celebrates scoring v China. Pic/Hockey India

Pakistan coach Saqlain Muhammad couldn't stop smiling after his team ended their Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) campaign here on a high with a 6-1 triumph over China in the 5th-6th place classification match on Friday.

Muhammad Ammad (10th and 52nd min), Muhammad Khan (11th and 12th), Abdul Shahid (15th) and Abdul Rana (55th) scored for Pakistan, while China pulled one back through Benhai Chen (35th).

Pakistan skipper Umar Bhutta (left) and coach Saqlain Muhammad after their 6-1 win over China in Chennai yesterday. Pics/Ashwin Ferro

"From the time we landed here, I've been saying that we have a young and inexperienced team, but these boys have progressed well in this tournament and beating China by this big margin proves it. This team have been with me for just 45 days. Most of them are from the junior team, yet they gave a good account of themselves here," Saqlain told mid-day after the win on Friday.

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An inexperienced side

The young and inexperienced Pakistan side (16 of their 20 players played less than 20 internationals before this ACT), began the tournament with a 1-3 defeat to Malaysia followed by draws with Korea (1-1) and Japan (3-3), a win against China (2-1) and a 0-4 rout by India before this big win to finish 5th in the tournament.
Skipper Umar Bhutta, the only experienced campaigner for Pakistan here, highlighted a few of his promising teammates. "Ammad is just 16, Shahid is 18 and Muhammad Khan is 19, yet they played very bravely. Our other forwards like Zikriya Hayat and Afraz also made a series of incisive runs and executed some good dodges which you don't get to see nowadays. This team do not lack in the skills department," said Bhutta.

The next assignment for Pakistan is the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China (September 23 to October 8), where they are clubbed alongside India in Pool ‘A', and Saqlain believes his boys will give an even better account of themselves there.

‘We have learnt our lessons'

"Here we held Asian Games champions Japan and Korea, which is also a top team. Against India, we got a couple of bad umpiring calls else the scoreline could have been different. But we have learnt our lessons and even assessed the opposition. India scored three of their four goals against us via penalty corners [Harmanpreet Singh scored two and Jugraj Singh got one]. Harmanpreet is world-class and virtually unstoppable. We have to make our moves early and not let them get penalty corners. That will be our plan the next time we meet. I assure you, we will fare much better against India in Hangzhou," Saqlain signed off, but not before making yet another plea to Hockey India to have more Indo-Pak matches in future.