India, Pak in must-win game

India will now play Pakistan on Friday, in what can be called a virtual semi-final as Michael Nobbs’ men need to win in order to enter the final.

The Indian hockey team continued their unbeaten run by fighting back from a goal down to hold Malaysia 2-2 on Wednesday but are still not assured of a place in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy here.

For India, Ravi Pal (9th) and Danish Mujtaba (52nd) were the scorers, while Tajuddin Jalil (24th) and Muhammad Amin Rahim (32nd) got the goals for Malaysia.

India needed a win to be assured of a place in the final as defeating Malaysia would have given the Indians 10 points.

They will now play Pakistan on Friday, in what can be called a virtual semi-final as Michael Nobbs’ men need to win in order to enter the final.

Asian Games champions Pakistan pipped South Korea 3-2 and are in line for a place in the summit clash.

Pakistan are on top of the table with nine points followed by India with eight. Japan are third on seven points with Korea fourth having six in their kitty. That puts four teams with a possibility of entering the final.

India can afford a draw provided Malaysia beat Japan. India could then sneak into the final on a better goal average that too if Korea beat China, the lowest ranked team in the tournament.

Goal averages would also count for Pakistan and Korea, if India beat Pakistan. The safest bet for India, however, would be to beat Pakistan.

In another match, Japan beat China 3-2. China took the lead in the 27th minute Song Yi converted a field attempt. Japan fought back with an equaliser on the break when Kazuyuki Ozawa scored from the top of the circle.

Japan added another two after the break in the 45th and 53rd minutes. They took the lead through a penalty corner conversion by Shinji Kawauchi and I a field attempt by Tanaka Kenta.

Pakistan battled hard for their s victory knowing that a win over o Korea would strengthen their chances of a place in the final.

In the match against Malaysia, r India were in attack mode right g from the start as Gurwinder i Singh Chandi made his custom i ary runs into the opponents’ circle but the first few appeals for d penalty corners were not given by the umpire. h A similar attack between c Chandi, Mujtaba and Sunil also e resulted in a melee but the J penalty corner did not come I India’s way. t India, however, got the goal in the ninth minute when Sunil y shot into the circle and it went off the Malaysian goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin’s pads.

Ravi Pal picked up the high rebound and whacked it into goal. Malaysia started dominating the midfield after that, pushing the Indians back.

Even the forwards fell back to defend as Malaysia rode on a wave of attacks into the Indian half. They earned three penalty corners and finally got the equaliser off the third when Jalil deflected a flick past the Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh in the 25th minute.

India had a penalty corner but yet again couldn’t trap the ball cleanly, the culprit this time being Ignace Tirkey.

India did come close a couple Pakistan in their final league gam of times when shots by Sunil and Walmiki were saved by Roslan in the Malaysian goal.

In the 32nd minute, Malaysia took the lead off an awful error by India. With a free ball inside the Indian circle and no Malaysian in sight, Sreejesh came out charging and kicked the ball against a defender’s leg as the umpire blew for Malaysia’s fourth penalty corner. Muhammad Amin scored off a direct flick.

At the break, Malaysia led 2-1.

The second half was a frentic battle for supremacy. Gone was the five forward formula for both the teams as they battled it e to qualify for the final.

out for ball possession.

In the 43rd minute, India earned their third penalty cor ner against the run of play but Rupinder Pal Singh failed to convert.

India’s bad run on penalty cor ners continued. Struggling against the man-to-man mark ing of the Malaysians, India finally managed to break their hold in the 53rd minute when Gurbaz moved down the right flank and centered brilliantly as a diving Danish Mujtaba sent the ball into the goal for the equaliser.

The goal sparked of a search for the match-winner from both teams though Malaysia held the edge as they moved much more fluently than the Indians.

The pace that India displayed against the Koreans wasn’t there.

Probably playing two matches within the space of 20 hours had taken a toll on them.

In the dying minutes, India earned their fourth penalty corner but Rupinder Pal Singh shot straight towards Roslan in the Malaysian goal.

A few more sharp chances came India’s way but the Malaysian defence did well to clear them.