India, Pak, Malaysia continue to excel

Action from Pakistan-China match at the Rayyan Stadium yesterday.    Picture:  Jayan Orma

By N D Prashant/Doha

defending champion India, Pakistan and Malaysia continued their surge in the Asian Champions Trophy by winning their respective encounters here at the Al Rayyan Stadium yesterday.

India defeated Japan 3-1, Pakistan thrashed China 5-2 while Malaysia rallied from a goal deficit to beat Oman 4-1.

All three teams have accumulated six points from two matches each, going into the rest day today. Remaining teams Japan, Oman and China are yet to open their accounts.

For India, penalty corner specialist VR Raghunath came out with another standout performance scoring a brace of goals. At half-time India led 1-0. The tally was completed by Gurwinder Singh Chandi, while the consolation goal for Japan came from skipper Toshiro Tachibana.

Unlike the first match against Malaysia, Japan started off strongly. Their defence looked far more composed and didn’t allow easy inroads for the Indian forward-line. However, what was clearly hurting the Japanese team was the depth and experience in the forward-line, especially to beat the strong Indian defence-line led by Raghunath.    

After keeping Indian forwards at bay, the first decisive move from Japan came after the first quarter. They were immediately rewarded with two back-to-back penalty corners following a stick check but failed to make that count.

India custodian Sreejesh Parattu blocked the first shot from Tachibana and then the resultant penalty corner went wide. Minutes later, India made sure not to miss out on the first penalty corner that came their way following a Chandi and Birendra Lakra triggered move. Raghunath finding the back of the goal with a power packed grounder.

The match was mainly confined to the mid-field after the change of ends. With the Indian side giving an impression that they were more content on resting on their one goal cushion, Japan drew level through a quick counter.

Chinese umpire You Sulong awarding the stroke for what looked like a clean diving effort to thwart the danger by Raghunath. Japan skipper Koji Kayukawa, who stepped up to take the stroke, made sure to find the goal past a diving Indian custodian Parattu.

However, even before the celebrations could end in the Japanese camp, Chandi ceased back the initiative for India by sounding the board after dribbling past a defender with a brilliant reverse hit after being fed by Chinglensana Kangujam. India then kept the pressure on and managed three penalty corners on the trot. Though the first two went begging, Rughunath had all the time in the world to find his spot off a grounder on the third attempt.

Coach Michael Nobbs was not too pleased with the team’s showing saying that the defence was holding on the ball too much. “I think we made silly errors today and it can prove costly; so we need to improve on it. We should have put away four or five more goals. The defence was holding on to the ball for long. When the forwards had the ball they looked dangerous.   

“Akashdeep (Singh) had two balls inside the circle which he failed to trap well and at international level you cannot afford to do that. I think we did play a bit easy today and even Japan has to be given credit as they took the ball away from us a lot,” said Nobbs adding that, there was injury worries for his side going into the next match against Oman on Sunday.

“SV Sunil has twisted his ankle and I hope that he will recover by tomorrow. The turf is very hard as it has been exposed to the harsh heat here for several years now,” revealed Nobbs.

Pakistan, like in their first match against Oman, looked vulnerable in the first session. Every time they took a lead, they conceded goals quickly and failed to keep the pressure on their opponents.

Mohammad Waqas was the first to provide them with the breakthrough with a brilliantly crafted move in the ninth minute. However, in no time the Chinese drew parity through Yang Yu deflection off a swift counter. In the 23rd minute, Shakeel Abbasi widened the lead to 2-1 by scoring through a penalty stroke. That advantage also didn’t last long as China struck back, two minutes later, through the first penalty corner that came their way; Xian Yi Liu finding the goal with a clinical strike.

Pakistan still managed to go into the breather with a 3-2 lead with Waqas getting his second goal for the day.

“We are facing problems early on because of the turf. It is hard, fast paced and bumpy here and there, so makes controlling a bit difficult. In the first half, it is a bit of a struggle but later on, the field opens up and then we are able to execute our plans better. So there is nothing to worry as you saw we were in total control in the second half,” revealed centre forward Abbasi after the match.

In the second half, Haseem Abdul Khan scored a brace of goals to seal a 5-2 win for Pakistan, who play Malaysia next. For Malaysia, Rahim Abd starred with a brace, while Faizal Saari and Jalil Abdul completed the tally. Jandal Bait struck for Oman. At half time, Malaysia led 2-1.