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BUSSELTON : Arch-rivals Pakistan and India in the first leg of the tri-series hockey tournament played 3-3 draw on Friday.
Veteran Sohail Abbas struck twice for Pakistan in 46th and 64th minutes, while captain Shakeel Abbasi scored the equaliser, after India had taken what seemed to be an unassailable 3-0 lead at the start with goals from Tushar Khandekar, Danish Mujtaba and Rupinder Pal Singh.
The match was stopped for a few minutes before the end of regulation time due to ugly incidents on the field involving players of both teams.
India were better side in the first half. Immediately after a Danish Mujtaba hit was palmed away by Pakistan goalkeeper Imran Shah, Khandekar put India ahead in the fifth minute.
This fifth minute setback added venom to Pakistan’s attack, but Indian defence, manned by VR Raghunath and Manjit, and ably assisted by Sardar Singh, withstood the pressure.
Danish then doubled India’s lead before Rupinder, who a minute earlier missed a sitter, came good in the 27th minute to see Michael Nobbs’ boys go 3-0 up at half-time.
But Pakistan hit back in style in the second half with veteran Sohail scoring twice and then captain Shakeel getting the equaliser just before play was halted.
In the closing stages of the match, a hard tackle by an Indian player resulted in a scuffle between the two teams. The incident forced the match to be stopped for few minutes, and even though the teams returned to the turf later, they agreed not to resume play.
Earlier, on Thursday, Australia beat Pakistan 3-1. The winners scored their first goal in the first half.
But the green-shirts managed to pull equaliser early in the second half when captain Shakeel Abbasi made no mistake to convert a penalty shootout.
However, Australia displayed their supremacy when they scored two late goals to eventually record a formidable 3-1 triumph.—Agencies
