KARACHI: Winning and losing are a part of the game but losing from a weaker side is not acceptable, says Islahuddin Siddiqui.
Speaking to Dawn on Tuesday soon after Pakistan lost to arch-rivals India 1-3 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, the former Pakistan captain and coach pointed out that the Green Shirts were playing against a weak team ranked 11 in the world while Pakistan itself is ranked fifth.
“It should have been an easy win for us,” Islah said. “After all no other country has come to this tournament with a more experienced team than Pakistan has. Then we also have the same Asian hockey playing style, and are far better than them,” he said.
“Then we also had the lead when we scored the first goal by converting a penalty corner in the sixth minute. But in the very same minute, India, too, restored parity by getting a penalty corner and converting it, too. Tit for tat! We couldn’t even keep the lead for a minute,” he regretted.
“The team management should have realised at that point that the opponent was playing well today and changed their game plan. But they didn’t do that and India scored again to establish their lead,” he added.
“Meanwhile, Pakistan maintained their missing. The Green Shirts got eight penalty corners out of which they converted only one and India got just one and hit the target,” Islah pointed out.
“Pakistan’s passing was also faulty. They couldn’t pass the ball to a team member on so many occasions due to which there were counter attacks, which our defence failed to block,” he said.
“On the whole India kept grip on the match. The first 20 minutes did see Pakistan keep most of the ball possession but the situation was reversed later with India keeping the possession in the second half,” he observed.
“It was also sad to see our players indulging in individual game than play as a team,” he added.
“So in three matches so far, Pakistan has scored five goals while conceding 12 with a win and two losses. The poor performance points a finger at Pakistan’s defence.
“Pakistan’s two deep defenders or fullbacks are not covering each other. They have to improve their marking while the forwards need to improve on their scoring power if they want to win their coming matches against Korea and hosts Malaysia,” he concluded.
