LAHORE, Dec 8: A Sohail Abbas penalty stroke conversion kept Pakistan's hopes of reaching the final alive at Champions Trophy hockey after a nail-biting 2-1 victory over arch-rivals India at National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday.

Although the result was pleasing for the home crowd and fans, the win did not come the easy way, not only because of tight Indian defence but also owing to shoddy finishing by the Pakistani forwards.

Pakistan forward-line performed relatively better against India as compared to previous three games, but over enthusiastic approach in front of the goal was the key factor squandering half a dozen scoring opportunities.

While Sohail became hero, converting the second half stroke, he was also guilty of failing to convert three penalty corners out of five. The home team missed chances from the outset through Rehan Butt sending the ball off target, while Kashif Jawwad tried off a rebound but umpire Pullman Tim disallowed.

Indian goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza produced a fine save off a Shabbir Hussain try. The visitors first scoring opportunity came in the 12th minute, but Hari Prasad wasted an Arjun Halappa cross in the 12th minute.

Pakistan failed to cash-in on the first penalty corner as Dilawar Hussain could not stop the ball for Sohail. The second short corner saw a low Sohail push being cleared to safety by a defender.

Shabbir again wasted what was a promising move when he failed to score from a Shakeel Abbasi pass. Mohammad Saqlain broke the ice beating Indian keeper from the top of the circle in the 32nd minute to give Pakistan lead.

The second session saw goal-shy Pakistanis missing number of opportunities, while packed Indian defence made things lot more difficult for the hosts. After trying through Shakeel and Maqsood who missed the target, Pakistan again fluffed an opening, tightly-marked and shoulder-charged Shakeel by Prabodh Tirkey could not capitalise a Dilawar free hit.

Sundeep Michael came close to giving India the lead but was denied by an agile goalkeeper Salman Akbar. While Sohail's experience did not work, promising Indian penalty corner striker Sandeep Singh's youth did the damage, the full-back snatched the equaliser with a lightning, low push past Salman in the 57th minute from a penalty corner.

Pakistan got back-to-back penalty corners, still they could not produce results, first through an indirect drill, then via major weapon Sohail who shot wide. The fifth penalty corner was converted into a stroke by Argentine umpire Daniel Santi after what seemed to be a foul by an India defender, sparking a protest from the Indian side and dissent by Halappa.

Sohail broke Australian Mark Hager's 32-goal Champions Trophy record when he stepped in to do the needful and slammed home from the spot past D'Souza in the 66th minute. Sandeep Singh once again posed threat on the second short corner three minutes before the end, but Salman made a fine save to avert the danger.

The Indians this time asked for another penalty corner, but umpire Tim Pullman refused. Earlier Defending champions The Netherlands booked a final berth in the final after an important 4-2 triumph over Spain thanks to three-goal Karel Klaver.

Table-toppers The Netherlands were 2-0 up by the 18th minute of the first half, Klaver scoring the opening goal in the 15th minute, Jan Geert Derikx netting the second off a penalty stroke.

Spain reduced the margin through Santiago Freixa seconds before halftime. Klaver got his second ten minutes into second half, Freixa again found the cage in the 57th minute before Klaver completed the scoring with a dying-minute effort.

Germany and New Zealand shared a point with a 1-1 draw. Phillip Borrows scored for New Zealand in the 25th minute, while Germans equalised through Jan-Marco Montag in the 43rd minute. Thursday is the rest day. The last league matches will be played on Friday.

Netherlands 4 Spain 2

Germany 1 New Zealand 1

Pakistan 2 India 1

Standings