Live blog
Full-time: India 2-1 Pakistan. Goals from Akashdeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh secure India a bronze medal, Atiq Muhammad's 52nd-minute goal proves only a consolation.
58': Pakistan has ejected goalkeeper Imran Butt and employed a 11th outfield player as it goes in search of an equaliser.
55': Into the last five minutes of the bronze-medal match and India hanging on to its one-goal lead as Pakistan commits men forward in search of an equaliser.
54': Rupinder Pal Singh's dragflick is marginally wide and conceding the penalty corner doesn't cost Pakistan this time.
53': Akashdeep Singh wins India a penalty corner, India's second in a space of four minutes. India now 2-1 up.
52': GOAL for Pakistan, Atiq Muhammad halves the deficit, a minute after India had taken a 2-0 lead. India's
51': GOAL for India, Harmanpreet Singh with a dragflick from the penalty corner won by Mandeep to double India's lead.
50': Mandeep Singh wins a penalty corner for India!
Final quarter starts...
India 15 minutes away from securing bronze after the disappointment against Malaysia.
End of third quarter, India still leads Pakistan 1-0. Akashdeep Singh's goal still the difference!
45': Varun Kumar with an important interception in the Indian 'D' to quell a moment of danger.
41': India mounts a counter-attack from a sharp save from P. R. Sreejesh, but is unable to make much of it.
39': Nothing comes off the penalty corner and India is let off the hook again. Pakistan is still dominating possession, though.
37': Shan Ali wins a penalty corner for Pakistan, which has grown into the game as the third quarter has progressed.
34': S. V. Sunil fails to get his stick to a delicious cross from Akashdeep Singh from India's left. India has started the second half brightly, but needs to make its dominance count.
Pakistan gets second half underway...
Half-time: India 1-0 Pakistan. Akashdeep Singh's goal separates the sides at the halfway point in the Asian Games bronze-medal match.
28': S. V. Sunil with a powerful shot, but the ball flies high and wide. India has exerted a bit of control after early domination from Pakistan in the second quarter.
25': India feeling the pressure here under a spell of Pakistan possession. Indian players' passes are going astray and Pakistan getting its foot in the game!
24': P. R. Sreejesh produces his first major save of the match, denying Pakistan an equaliser from a penalty corner.
22': First penalty corner of the match and it goes to Pakistan! Atiq Muhammad with a mazy run that lures the Indian defenders, ends in drawing a foul.
20': Another scooped pass from deep inside the Indian half, but Mandeep Singh doesn't control the air-borne ball and a chance goes abegging.
17': Dilber Muhammad's ferocious shot flies marginally wide of India's goal. Pakistan has started the second quarter strongly, India's defence being put under pressure.
Second quarter starts...
15': India ends the first quarter leading Pakistan 1-0 thanks to Akashdeep's fourth-minute goal. Pakistan's defence has been opened up on numerous occasion and with better finishing, India could be two or three-nil up.
11': A brilliant scooped pass from Harmanpreet Singh, but Lalit Kumar cannot bring the air-borne ball under control and a chance fizzles out.
9': India frequently getting into Pakistan's 'D' and carrying a menace every time it does. Akashkeep and Sardar Singh in the thick of action, orchestrating India's attacks.
7': Imran Butt comes up with a good save to deny India going 2-0 up.
5': Video referral asked by Pakistan, which thinks it has the ball in the goal. The video referee says that the ball ricocheted off the post, Pakistan loses a referral.
4' GOAL for India! Smashed in by Akashdeep Singh after some good work down the left. The goal had seemed inevitable after total domination from India in the early exchanges.
2': India with all the possession, stroking the ball around Pakistan's goal and trying to find an opening. Pakistan holding its shape and holding out for the moment.
Preview
At some point in the 18th Asian Games, India and Pakistan's men's hockey teams were set to face each other. The arch-rivals avoided each other in the quarterfinals and also in the semifinals, but losses to Malaysia (for India) and Japan (for Pakistan) in the last-four have set up a mouthwatering bronze-medal match for Asian Games supremacy.
India steamrollered five of its opponents en route to the semifinals, beating Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Sri Lanka by an aggregate score of 76-3. India was expected to come through the Malaysian test, but the defeat and the manner of it came as a rude shock.
Full preview: India, Pakistan vie for bronze in clash of arch-rivals
Pakistan was just as dominant in Pool B, beating Thailand, Oman and Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Bangladesh by big margins before suffering a narrow defeat in the semifinals to Japan.
Saturday's meeting in Jakarta will be the 174th between India and Pakistan in field hockey, Pakistan leading the head to head by 82-60. It has won eight of the 14 Asian-Games contests against its arch-rival.
Comments
SHARE