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India reached the semifinals of 19th Commonwealth Games hockey with a dominating 7-4 win over arch-rivals Pakistan this evening. From the very beginning of the match India showed the urgency to do something notable in this edition and went 4-0 up within first 20 minutes with goals from Sandeep Singh(3′, 11′), Shivendra Singh(19′) and Sarvanjit Singh(20′). However, such a huge lead at the early stages of the game led to complacency in the team and India tried to slow down the pace of the game and went defensive. Pakistan dominated the rest of the first half and put two goals back through Imran (27′) and Rizwan (29′). When the hooter went at the end of 35 minutes India were leading 4-2 but the fear of giving back the game was still very much alive. However, the beginning of the second half told a different story. Team India came out of the break refreshed and with huge amount of confidence in them. They showed a much better game, mixing Indian skill play and short passes with occasional long balls and Danish Mujtaba (41′) and Sarvanjit Singh (45′) scored early to take the lead to 6-2. At this stage the game was looking safe in India’s hand and the team continued to press Pakistani defence unlike the first half. Pakistan pulled one back before India scored another with a beautiful finish from Shivendra Singh (59′) from a close angle. At the dying stages of the match Shakeel Abbasi scored one for Pakistan but it was too little too late for them.
Its not only the margin of win that was satisfying in the match, its was the spirit and the confidence of the team that inspires hope. Especially in the second half, the Indian team clearly showed who are the better team in the ground. However, the match lacked the spark as a whole that is expected from an India-Pakistan match. Pakistan started the game in a lackluster way and were simply outplayed for most part of first half and then there was a role-reversal for the rest part. The second half of the match was more entertaining as both teams showed some great skills and intelligent game but the Indian team riding high on the home support and the confidence from a comfortable lead emerged out as the better team in the second half also. However, last 15 minutes of the first half is the point of concern and if Indian team repeats that form in any match now on it will be difficult to go any further.
India now face England in the second semifinal to be played on tuesday at 5:30 pm while Australia face New Zealand in the other one at 11:00 am the same day. India’s experience with England has not been good in recent past, them being the team that eliminated India out of the 2008 Olympic qualifiers and then India again lost to them in the World Cup match in home ground. However, with blasting performance from players like Rajpal Singh, Shivendra Singh, Sandeep Singh and others and goals flowing in from every corner, this Indian team gives us something to hope for. When Spanish coach Jose Brasa took charge of the team last year, he said the team would be ready by the time of Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and we can just pray that his words are true, even though his job is currently at stake. Lets hope India breaks the jinx in CWG and gets the first medal for men’s hockey this time.
