The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : India salvages some prestige

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 11, 2004

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Sport - Hockey

India salvages some prestige

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD, OCT.10. For a change, the Indians were in no mood to be too friendly at least in the final 'Test' against Pakistan in the eight-match Dosti Series as they carved out a methodical 2-0 win at the magnificent floodlit Gachibowli hockey complex here on Sunday night.

To the delight of the near capacity holiday crowd, the hosts rose to the expectations after a sedate start to the proceedings. Well, no doubt, the two teams paid a handsome tribute to the penalty-corner expert Sohail Abas by forming a human gate to applaud a truly memorable feat of becoming the highest scorer in international hockey with 268 goals earlier in the series. But quite surprisingly, from Pakistan point of view, Sohail's charisma was confined only to those nostalgic moments. For none of his penalty-corners produced the goals which his team badly needed. And it was a tribute to the efficacy of Adrian D'Souza under the bar that the Pakistan think-tank had to look for the seasoned campaigner Ghazanfar Ali for a change of fortunes with the sixth penalty-corner. Albeit it too went in vain as the Indian custodian clearly stole the show under the lights.

It was obvious that the normally efficient Shakeel Abbasi, Kashif Jawad and Dilawar Hussain were never given the liberty to move around freely inside the Indian territory. By any means, it was a stand-out performance by the Indian defence so well manned by captain Dilip Tirkey playing his first match after being badly hit in the Delhi Test. Viren Rasquinha was equal to the task and with Ignace Tirkey and Vikram Pillay manning the midfield with the desired consistency, Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep Michael had the freedom to test the rival defence with regularity.

It was a gem of a goal in the 17th minute that put India ahead to the big roar from the spectators. The move was initiated by Tushar Khandekar from the left-flank with a long cross to Vikram Pillay on the right who in turn gave a swift minus to waiting Dilip Tirkey who waited to see that Tushar was in perfect position on the right of 'D' to relay the ball only to see Tushar essay a terrific reverse flick which went into the goal off Sandeep Michael's stick. An effort which stunned the Pakistan camp into silence.

Though Pakistan forced the first penalty-corner in a counter-attack within minutes, it was Adrian who stood like a rock in front of Sohail Abbas. No doubt, in his over enthusiasm Adrian was even shown a green card by the referee Amarjeet Singh. But it was again a wonderful opportunism by V.S.Vinay who seized on the deflection of the first penalty-corner hit to essay a swift pass to Prabodh Tirkey who in turn relayed the ball to Tushar Khandekar on the run. Showing remarkable ball control, Tushar first lured the Pakistani Salman Akbar out only to execute a powerful carpet drive to the right of the goal make it 2-0.

After that Pakistan never really looked like the champion side it was in the previous matches. With Sohail Abbas almost reduced to a mere spectator, the pressure was more on the forward line to produce something special. But it did not happen as even Rehat Butt, Adnan Masood and Ghazanfar Ali struggled to show the expected coordination upfront.

Significantly, Vikram Pillay, substitute Vivek Gupta and even Hari Prasad showed the ability to fall back with a touch of class when the situation demanded.

That India earned its only penalty corner in the 50th minute was certainly no indication that it was on the defensive. And it could have even scored the third goal but Vikram Pillay was a bit slow to latch on to a quick pass on the run on the right flank by Hariparasad.

Pakistan 4-2 named Adrian D' Souza `player of the series `and Sohail Abbas' best achiever at the en dof the series won.

Chief Minister Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy gave away the prizes.

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