India vs Pakistan hockey, HIGHLIGHTS Asian Games 2023: IND thrashes PAK 10-2 in Pool A match

India managed to register a comprehensive 10-2 win over its arch-rivals Pakistan in the pool A match.

Rooman finds the foot of Amit Rohidas inside the circle to win a PC. Umar Bhutta injects the ball but Harmanpreet saves Mohammed Sufiyan’s shot.

Back-to-back penalty corners for Pakistan but the men in green failed to change the scoreline.

A long powerful reverse shot from the Pakistani attacker was deflected to the face of Sumit by keeper Sreejesh. We are in for a small break before the referee awards a PC to Pakistan.

India is just cruising at the moment. They have kept the possession with them at will.

GOALLLLL! Varun Kumar scores the 10th goal for India. The story continues. India in the attack, wins another PC and Varun converts to extend the lead to eight goals.

Relentless from the Indian attacking unit. They win another PC but this time fail to convert it for a goal.

GOALLLLL! Lalit Upadhyay scores after getting the ball from Jarmanpreet Singh. He goes wide to deceive the keeper and finally hits something other than side-netting! 9th goal for India.

GOALLLLLL! Shamsher scores a wonderful field goal after finding the net past the keeper with a reverse stick shot.

GOALLLLL! India concedes a PC in the dying minutes of the third quarter. Umar Bhutta with his usual job of injecting the ball, Abdul Rana gets a deflection from the drag flicker to score Pakistan’s second goal.

Nilakanta Sharma exploits the gaps in the midfield to run through the middle channel. India is looking to put Pakistan under pressure with constant attacking runs.

GOALLLLLL! Varun Kumar scores with a deflection at the second post after getting a pass from Sukhjeet Singh from the left flank Brilliant play by India to get this field goal on transition

Umar Bhutta with the injection after Pakistan wins another Penalty corner. Manpreet Singh did tremendously well to run and defend the drag flick of Sufiyan. India concedes another PC but the compact defence saves it.

GOALLLLL! Sufiyan Mohammed scores with a powerful drag flick after Pakistan won a PC.

Indian defence continues its clean work. The scoreline remains the same at 6-0.

Umar Bhutta won a PC for Pakistan after the Indian skipper made a stick check on him inside the circle.

GOALLLLLL! Harmanpreet scores his fourth! He converts the penalty corner and the Indian annihilation continues as the scoreline reads 6-0 at the moment.

India gets another stroke. Skipper Harmanpreet comes to take the stroke. He chips over the keeper to complete his hat-trick and extends India’s lead to 5-0.

India leads 4-0 at halftime. Harmanpreet SIngh converted a penalty stroke and a PC before Mandeep opened India’s account with a field goal. Sumit gets the fourth goal.

Sumit with a reverse stick shot and Lalit Upadhyay directed towards the net and found the back of the net after getting a touch from Gurjant’s stick. The referees have taken a referral and the confirmation comes - India gets its fourth goal just at the stroke of halftime.

Captain Umar Bhutta with injection, Pakistan fails to make the most of this PC as the scoreline remains the same after Sreejesh saves the drag flick.

Arshad Liaqat wins a PC after finding the foot of Sumit.

Vivek Sagar Prasad passes to Laith from the left channel, a poor attempt from Lalit who was late on the ball to lose the possession.

Indian defence looks quite composed. Pakistan is not able to pierce and run through the defence for any potential attacks.

Lalit with a ball inside circle, he goes for a reverse tomahawk but hits side netting for the second time.

India’s speed and agility clearly look better than their counterparts. The ball possession remains with the men-in-blue.

GOALLLLL! Harmanpreet Singh scored with a drag flick and India made it a three-nil lead with almost three quarters to go.

Shamsher finds the foot of the Pakistan defender to give India another penalty corner.

The live-action resumes after a 2-minute break. Sreejesh comes in for Krishan Pathak.

India cruised past Pakistan in the first quarter to enjoy a two-goal lead. Mandeep with a field goal followed by captain Harmanpreet Singh who converted the penalty stroke.

Vivek Prasad with a long ball from the right flank to left and Lalit Upadhyay received the ball and took a shot but could only manage to hit the side netting. India was inches away from tripling its lead.

The Indians are in the attacking run. Pakistan, which had numbers in defence, was able to shrug off any danger.

GOALLLLLLL! Captain Harmanpreet Singh scores on a penalty stroke after Pakistan conceded a stoke when keeper Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan threw his body on the ball while defending,

Penalty corner to Pakistan after India made a foul inside D. Captain Umar Bhutta injected the ball, and the drag flick went straight to keeper Krishan Pathak, who made a brilliant save.

Pakistan made a couple of circle entries from either flank, but the Indian defence maintained its shape to deny any goalscoring causality.

GOALLLLL! Mandeep scores to put India ahead in the game. The duo of Mandeep and Abhishek combined well to run through the Pakistani defence and a late tap-in from Mandeep gave India an early lead.

Circle entry for Pakistan from the right flank but clean stickwork gives the possession back to India.

End-to-end hockey in the initial few minutes. India holds the ball possession.

We are underway with in the high octane India Pakistan clash.

Players from both nations are lined up for the national anthem.

On 2nd October 2023, India Vs Bangladesh at 1315 hrs IST

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The Indian Men’s Hockey Team has displayed their top form at the ongoing 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, picking up three wins in three games so far. While India began the contest with a 16-0 win over Uzbekistan in the Pool A match, the side led by Captain Harmanpreet Singh followed it up with a 16-1 win over Singapore. On Thursday, India faced their toughest challenge of the campaign against the 2018 Asian Games Gold medalist Japan and came out of the contest with a 4-2 win to keep their winning streak intact.

Now, on Saturday, India will take on its neighbouring rivals Pakistan in a crucial contest and will hope to add another win to their record.

Pakistan Team, like India, is also having a good run, having won all three games they have played so far. Pakistan began their campaign with an 11-0 win over Singapore and then went on to record a 5-2 win over Bangladesh and an 18-2 win over Uzbekistan.

Speaking about the upcoming game, Indian Men’s Hockey Team Captain Harmanpreet Singh stated that the team has learned valuable lessons from their matches thus far in the tournament, which will come in handy against Pakistan.

“It has been a good start for us in the tournament so far, but the most important aspect so far is that with each opponent, we have learnt new things about our gameplay and about how we can improve our game. We have remained unbeaten, which gives us confidence going into our game against Pakistan that we are in good shape and rhythm, and now it is just about maintaining the momentum and implementing the lessons that we are learning every day,” he said.

Pakistan have also been unbeaten so far in the tournament, beating Singapore 11-0 in their first match, and then picking up a 5-2 win over Bangladesh in their second game. Pakistan beat Uzbekistan 18-2 in their third Pool A game on Thursday.

Harmanpreet Singh also opened up on the mood in the dressing room ahead of the Pakistan clash and said that the team is eager to continue their winning run in Hangzhou.

“There is always excitement in the dressing room whenever there is a match against Pakistan. The fans are always the loudest and make their voices heard. Pakistan have a solid team that has been doing really well, so we know we also have to be at our best against them to get a win. We are motivated by the results so far and we are eager to maintain our winning streak in the tournament,” he said.

The two teams last met in the Pool match at the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 in August, where India won the match 4-0. Since 2013, India and Pakistan have faced each other 24 times, in which India have won 16 times, while Pakistan have won 5 times, and three games ended in a draw.

Indian Men’s Hockey Team Chief Coach Craig Fulton said, “We have shown some tremendous progress in the first three games and we are happy with our performance. Of course, there are always some improvements that can be made, and it will be critical that we work on those ahead of the match against a strong team like Pakistan, which is also having a good tournament. We know what our goals are and are confident that we will achieve them on Saturday.”

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s LIVE coverage of the Asian Games men’s hockey match between India and Pakistan at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium. Stay tuned as we bring you all the live updates as it unfolds in Hangzhou.