Asian Champions Trophy: Harmanpreet's double powers India to hard-fought 2-1 win over Pakistan

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh made the difference as he converted two penalty corners to hand unbeaten India a close 21 win over archrivals Pakistan in their final league match of the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament on SaturdayIt was Indias fifth consecutive win in the sixteam roundrobin Asian Champions Trophy competitionPakistan took the lead through Ahmad Nadeem 8th minute before Harmanpreet 13th 19th converted two penalty corners to lead India to win It was Pakistans first loss in this tournamentBoth India and Pakistan have already qualified for the semifinals The victory also enabled India to maintain their supremacy over Pakistan since 2016In their previous meeting at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year India thrashed Pakistan 102 A few months before that the Indians beat Pakistan 40 during the Chennai edition of the ACTAt the Asia Cup in Jakarta 2022 a relatively young Indian side held Pakistan to a 11 draw while at the 2021 ACT in Dhaka India defeated Pakistan 43 to clinch the bronze medalAs like any IndoPak hockey match the first quarter saw endtoend action with both the teams giving their all to gain the bragging rightsWhat a game India vs Pakistan lived up to the hype with nonstop action and intense rivalry Which moment was your favorite Comment down below and letrsquos relive the action togetherIndVsPak MenInBlue PrideOfIndia GameOn IndiaKaGame HockeyIndia ACT24hellip pictwittercomMuKefEDdDlmdash Hockey India TheHockeyIndia September 14 2024The Indians started brightly dominating the early share of exchanges but Pakistan grew in confidence as the match progressedIndia were at the receiving end for the first time in the tournament when Pakistan drew the first bloodIt was a selfless Hannan Shahid whose brilliant work from the midfield split the Indian defence and Nadeem found himself at the right place to direct the ball into the Indian goalAlso Read Oz hockey star Craig banned after Olympic cocaine bustA stunned India kept up their composure and patiently built their attacks and secured their first penalty corner in the 13th minute and skipper Harmanpreet scored with a powerful dragflick to the left of a hapless Pakistan goalkeeper MunnebThe Indians continued to press in the second quarter and gained their second penalty corner in the 19th minute and once again Pakistan defence had no answer as Harmanpreet was bang on target as India went up 21While India were the better side in terms of possession in the second quarter Pakistan also had their chances penetrating the rival circle on quite a few occasionsJust 45 seconds from halftime Pakistan had an opportunity to draw level through a penalty corner but they wasted the chance as Sufyan Khans flick which hit the top of the bar was rejected for a raised ballThe Indians sustained possession after the change of ends and secured their third penalty corner in the 37th minute but Pakistan defended bravelyThereafter a sustained spell of attacks helped Pakistanis to bag four penalty corners in quick succession but lacked the firepower to breach the Indian defenceIn the last quarter both the sides stitched relentless attacks and India secured three more penalty corners but failed to convertThe match also witnessed a heated encounter between Harmanpreet and Pakistans Ashraf Waheed Rana after the latter shouldered Jugraj Singh inside the Indian circleJugraj was felled by the impact and was seen grimacing in pain Harmanpreet and Jarmanpreet Singh were quick to counter the offenderThe onfield umpires and Pakistan captain Butt and other players of both teams rushed in to control the situation but Rana was shown yellow card which resulted in a 10minute suspension after the umpire went for a referral for a serious misconductMeanwhile in the first match of the day Malaysia and Korea played out a 33 drawWith agency inputs