KUALA LUMPUR, June 1: Pakistan survived a fierce fightback from arch-rivals India to win 3-2 and edge closer to a place in the final of the 14th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Wednesday. Earlier, defending champions Australia thrashed South Africa 8-3 to hold on to second place in the standings and boost their own chances of reaching Sundays final.

Tournament leaders Pakistan, backed by a vocal crowd at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, appeared to be strolling to victory after taking a 3-0 half-time lead through goals from Adnan Zakir (8th minute), Rehan Butt (11th) and Akhtar Ali (28th).

Deepak Thakur and Sandeep Michael brought India back from the dead with goals in quick succession midway through the second half but it came too late as Pakistan held on for their fourth win in five matches and consolidate first place in the seven-team standings.

Pakistani coach Tahir Zaman admitted his players succumbed to complacency in the second half.

“It was a timely reminder for us that you should never relax in hockey,” said Zaman. “When they were 3-0 up they forgot the game-plan and started playing as individuals.”

India came to life 15 minutes into the second half when Thakur followed up on a Len Aiyappa penalty corner to pull a goal back.

Two minutes later, Michael deflected a hopeful shot into the D past Pakistani goalkeeper Salman Akbar to reduce the arrears to just one goal

India pounded the Pakistani goal in search of an equaliser and Akbar had to be at his best to make a number of saves in the final 15 minutes.

India will rue Arjun Halappas missed penalty stroke in the 37th minute as they suffered their third defeat of the tournament.

Pakistan now need only a draw against hosts Malaysia in their final match on Friday to finish top of the seven-team standings. The top two teams after a round-robin contest Sundays final.

For Australia, it was their best performance of the tournament so far, having struggled to live up to their tag as favourites in their previous four matches, including Tuesdays 2-2 draw with Pakistan.

But the Olympic champions finally came good on Wednesday, strolling to a 5-1 half-time lead and then controlling the pace of the game in the second half.

Also on Wednesday, New Zealand defeated hosts Malaysia 3-1 for their second win of the tournament.

Australia play India in their final group game on Friday and victory would ensure a place in Sundays final.

“We scored early and the good thing was that we scored a lot of goals from the chances we created, which is what we haven’t been doing before,” said Australias assistant coach Peter Batch.

“We are getting there. We have a tough match against India coming up and we know we have to win if we are reach the final.”

Jamie Dwyer scored twice for the Aussies, once in each half, while Eli Matheson, Robert Hammond, Travis Brooks, Michael McCann, Brent Livermore (penalty stroke) and Grant Schubert also got their names on to the scoresheet.

South Africa scored more goals in Wednesdays match than they their total over the previous four matches but it was still too little against the powerful Aussies.

Emile Smith, John McInroy and Ricky Gay scored the goals for South Africa, who remain bottom of the seven-team standings with just one point.

New Zealands Philip Burrows gave his team an early lead against Malaysia, firing home in the second minute.

Malaysia equalised eight minutes into the second half through captain S. Kuhans penalty corner. But the Kiwis finished the stronger team with second-half goals from Blair Hopping and Bryce Collin.

Standings after Wednesday’s play: (played, won, draw, lost, for, against, points)

Pakistan 5 4 1 0 12 7 13

Australia 5 3 2 0 18 10 11

S.Korea 4 2 1 1 13 7 7

New Zealand 5 2 1 2 9 7 7

Malaysia 5 1 1 3 7 12 4

India 5 1 1 3 8 14 4

South Africa 5 0 1 4 5 15 1

—AFP