The Greenshirts trailed 0-3 till the 45th minute of the match
before a brace from their ace short corner striker Sohail Abbas and a 65th
minute equalizer from skipper Shakeel Abbasi helped them secure a draw.
The action-packed encounter was called off 90 seconds before
the final whistle when a fistfight broke out between the rival players, forcing
the match referee to step in. Play was halted for almost 30 minutes before the
rival teams and tournament officials decided to stop the match.
It was an unfortunate end to a high-voltage encounter that
brought the best out of both the teams.
The Indians, who were hammered 8-3 by Australia in the
opening match of the tri-nation event on Wednesday, emerged as the better team
in the first session.
Danish Mujtaba almost put India ahead but his brilliant hit
was gloved away by Pakistani goalie Imran Shah. But just a minute later, Shah
was unable to stop Tushar Khandkar from making it 1-0 for the Indians in the
fifth minute.
Danish Mujtaba and Rupinder Pal Singh then struck for India
to give them a 3-0 lead. Just when it seemed that the Indians will race away
with full points, Pakistan bounced back with a vengeance with Sohail Abbas
netting the ball with a powerful drag flick in the 46th minute.
The veteran
defender then converted another penalty corner in the 64th minute to raise his
team’s hopes. Abbasi scored the equalizer one minute later adding venom to
Pakistan’s attack. Pakistan attacked in waves in the dying moments before a
scuffle broke out between several players of the rival teams, leaving
Pakistan’s Imran Shah and Shafqat Rasool with minor injuries.
Earlier, Australia once again underlined their status as the
No.1 team in the hockey world when they thrashed India and Pakistan in
back-to-back matches of the tournament.
After
crushing India 8-3 in the opening match of the tri-nation event on Wednesday,
the Aussies overcame some tough resistance to beat Pakistan 3-1 on Thursday to
virtually qualify for the title match in the competition.
