NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Sandeep Singh and Shivendra Singh struck two goals apiece and inspired India to a 7-4 win over arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday that secured the hosts a spot in the Commonwealth Games men's hockey semi-finals.

India will take on England in the semi-final on Tuesday, while defending champions Australia face their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand.

Singh converted two short corners and also set up Shivendra Singh to deflect the third goal inside the first 20 minutes. Shivendra made it 7-3 when he rammed in off captain Raj Pal Singh's timely pass in the second half before Shakeel Abbasi reduced the margin for Pakistan.

Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, who sat in the general stand, were among the 19,000 strong home team supporters at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium to cheer for the home team.

“We had planned early attacks and the confidence went up when such a big crowd came in to support us,” Shivendra said.

“We knew nothing less than a win could take us through and I will never forget this performance.”

Pakistan scored through Mohammad Imran's penalty stroke and field goals from Mohammad Rizwan and Rehan Butt.

“We were not expecting such a performance,” said a tired Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf. “The big crowd made the difference as our defence completely collapsed inside the first 12 minutes.”

Pakistan, who won silver at Melbourne in 2006, ended up with six points and will now play for fifth place against South Africa.

Earlier, James Tindall scored in the 66th minute to help European champions England to a 2-1 win over South Africa and gained top spot in Pool B.

In a dramatic last match of Pool B, New Zealand rallied to salvage a 1-1 draw against Canada while three-time gold medalist Australia remained unbeaten and rounded off the group stage with a 7-0 win over Malaysia.

The only blot in Australia's otherwise powerful victory came early when veteran Jamie Dwyer hit the crossbar off a sixth-minute penalty stroke.

Luke Doerner notched a hat-trick off powerful penalty corner drag flicks for the world champions.The Canadians surprised New Zealand, holding the lead via Sukhwinder Singh's field goal for the bulk of the match until Hayden Shaw converted a short corner just two minutes before full time.

In a desperate move to get the equaliser New Zealand — who finished the group stage with seven points — even substituted goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex with striker Stephen Jenness with three minutes to go.

Pontinfex immediately returned to guard the goal as soon as Hayden got the equaliser.

Earlier, England's unmarked Tindall broke through the left flank and deftly placed the ball over the charging South Africa goalkeeper Eramus Pieterse for the match winner.

Striker Ashley Jackson shot England ahead in the eighth minute with skillful dribbling when he combined with captain Barry Middleton and pierced the defence to scored off a narrow angle.

South Africa equalised in the 45th through Taine Paton before their defence fell into Tindall's trap.—AP