India again failed in front of five thousand cheering crowd, only to blossom in between to falter again in the shoot out (2-4) to the arch rivals.
This brittle Indian team, that started the Delhi campaign shakily with a single goal margin defeat to The Netherlands, lost the last game today to their arch rivals Pakistan 5-3, after held by 1-1 at regulation time.
Pakistan took the lead early in the match, at the stroke of seventh minute but India came from behind to annul the slenderest of the lead with an immaculate low drag of Gurjinder Singh with almost six minutes left in the clock.
Its was Gurjinder’s second penalty corner effort that thrilled the crowd who braved the chilly open air stands, but in the ensured penalty shoot out, greenhorn Imran Khan and Satbir Singh fizzled out to inform goalie Mazhar Abbas of Pakistan.
Earlier in the first Penalty Corner attempt, Mazhar rose to his height to palm away a high drag of Gurjinder, which otherwise had all trappings of a goal.
Its is surprising to see the greenhorns preferred for the penalty shoot out instead of ‘experienced’ Akashdeep and Mandeep Singh were not selected.
Even had India won today, nothing would have changed for Indian hockey, however the academic interest that lies with India-Pak feat is also lost.
Its totally a disappointing show for India over all