04 October 2004	Monday	18 Shaban 1425

NEW DELHI, Oct 3: A band of young Indian field hockey players who were considered no-hopers till recently have raised expectations of victory over Pakistan in an ongoing Test series.

India trail 2-1 at the half-way mark of the eight-match series. But their showing on the Pakistan leg was encouraging and they have the home advantage in the remaining four matches.

A new-look team without experienced players like Dhanraj Pillay, Prabhjot Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh, and a recent dismal run against their arch-rivals, meant they were the underdogs before the series. But they surprised many by scoring a resounding 4-1 victory in the second match to level the series and then drew the fourth. "We took the Indian team lightly at the beginning but after their 4-1 win at Quetta we knew we had to fight it out," said Pakistan's Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans.

India, who had lost all six matches this year against Pakistan before this series, had the satisfaction of seeing players like penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh emerge with flying colours.

Sandeep, who scored three goals in Pakistan, has been one of the finds for India. Their German coach Gerhard Rach is happy at the way the team has shaped. "This team is without stars and they are playing well as a team," said Rach, whose coaching methods were criticised by senior players like Pillay and Prabhjot during the Athens Olympics.

"The youngsters are coming up brilliantly and the seniors can't take their places for granted any more," said Rach. Indian captain Dilip Tirkey conceded that he was suprised to see the team gel so well, scoring 11 goals to Pakistan's 10 so far in the series.

"The youngsters in the team have done better than expected. They give us a lot of hope for coming matches," said Tirkey. Pakistan's famed drag-flicker Sohail Abbas said he hoped the series would help improve relations between the two countries.

"We hope the series will help bring peace and understanding," said Sohail, who has scored 41 goals against India and is just two short of equalling the world record of 267 held by Dutch legend Paul Litjens.

"Crowds have been thronging the grounds, which is good for the game. This series can help give a boost to the game in the two neighbouring countries," the penalty-corner specialist said. The Indian leg commences with a match here on Monday with the remaining matches to be played in Chandigarh (Oct 6), Amritsar (Oct 8) and Hyderabad (Oct 10). -AFP