ACT M 2016: Dream India Pakistan final on Diwali day
Malaysian port city of Kuantan witnessed celebration of Indian ethos Diwali on a grand scale today while the same Festival of Light will await India tomorrow.
As most part of India will indulge in Diwali tomorrow, the real cracker will be heard at Kuantan Municipal Stadium turf in Wisma Belia.
India and Pakistan, traditional rivals, will clash for the fourth Asian Champions Trophy final, as both have overcome their stiff semifinal hurdle in the same fashion: Shoot out. As fate of teams will have it, Malaysia which walloped Pakistan for a fluent 4-2 in the league, second-fiddle to the motivated Pakistan team today in the second semifinal.
Playing under full stands, music and melody singing with it, Pakistan overcame both crowd and the atmosphere that went with it to over come the hosts in a tense shoot out.
The shoot out, unlike the previous one between India and Korea, was a damp squip for the hosts. After two successful conversions against one out of two by Pakistan, Malaysians lost steam. Faiz Jali, Sharil saabh, and Fitri Saari fizzled out. Pakistan won the shoot out 3-2 even before one of its quota was not taken.
For the young Imran Butt, who stood under the bar, its dream two saves that catapulted his team to the summit clash here.
This brings a halt to the full stands, as Malaysia will not be in the final.
The dream clash between India and Pakistan may not bring full stands, but will be interesting to watch.
Despite drizzling, the stands today witnessed maximum crowd, most of them were sitting on wed, open air stands.
They may have been disappointed with Malaysia’s defeat, but hockey was the winner today.
Malaysia was almost subdued today, giving enough elbow room for Pakistan to launch attacks.
Malaysia got crucial penalty corners, but their veteran in the art Razie Rahim could not deliver.
Pakistan did not present as a cohesive unit, but individual brilliance saw them attacking.
Playing against their Federation President and Secretary, Pak showed lot of energy in tackling the hosts.
Today’s Pakistan was different in approach compared to their match where Pak surrendered initiative to Malaysia and went down 2-4.
Malaysia took lead in the 18th minutew ehn Shahri Saabah bounced on to a rebound from Imran Butt after he blocked Rahim Razie’s strong drag in the penalty corner drill. The sides changed for the lemon time with Malaysia leading.
Four minutes into the secondhalf, Abdul Khan put it away a long cross into D to draw parity on the scoreboard. Pakistan then dominated the proceedings though it did not manifest in scoring.