QUETTA, Sept 26: After a scare in the opening match from a young Indian side, Pakistan play their second match of the hockey series on Monday at the Gen Musa Hockey Stadium, hoping to come up with better performance against the arch-rivals.

While Pakistani forwards squandered gilt-edged chances in the first game - which Pakistan won 2-1 in Karachi on Friday - short corner specialist Sohail Abbas was unnerved at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium by the Indian goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza and the dashers.

D' Souza and his colleagues had halted Sohail thrice out of four attempts through quick dashes, while Imran Warsi, who has been called up from the junior side, could not show his skills since Pakistan did not force any penalty corner after he was fielded.

But Sohail, just five away from creating a world record of 268 goals, was confident of coming back with full vigour in the second match, which starts at 4.00pm at the Gen Musa Hockey Stadium.

"The Indian goalkeeper made brilliant dashes to save my attempts. But that won't stop me as it was part of game. Besides, Karachi pitch was defective that also created problems. I hope we will give a better show here as the surface is smooth," Sohail said on Sunday.

Pakistan captain Waseem Ahmad joined his team-mate, saying it was not only at the penalty corner spots that the pitch was bumpy, but it was also creating problems for the players in the midfield.

"Since the game in Karachi was the first after a month-long layoff, we failed to give our best as we had a few days' training before the match and our fitness was not up to the required standards. As for missed penalty corners, we have been shown videos and have plans to tackle the problem.

"The pitch also played its role in missed short corners. I hope things will be better here where the surface is smooth," the half-back said. While the Indian team had evening session till dusk after reaching here from Karachi in the afternoon, Pakistan players just had light workout.

Indian coach Gerhard Rach says the home team will be having advantage on a perfect surface that would allow them to utilize their major weapon - Sohail Abbas. "The Pakistanis will have the advantage here because of good surface. We contained Sohail, but that was because of a rough surface in Karachi," Rach told Dawn after Sunday's evening session.

Rach, a German hired by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) three weeks before the Athens Olympics, said although he was not happy after the first loss in Karachi, he was not expecting the kind of cohesion displayed by his forwards.

"Since we are in the rebuilding process, I must say we are not in a position to pose any serious challenge to any side. But I am sure we will do so once our players develop better co-ordination and I am sure our side will become formidable in the future," he opined.

The Indian coach, however, said Sohail would not be the only target for his team would also be trying to contain the Pakistani forwards from providing opportunities to the full-back by pressing for short corners.

Rach kept Sandeep Singh's role in Monday's match a secret, although the tall full-back was seen practicing penalty corner drills with deadly speed and sometimes accuracy, indicating that he might be fielded in the second game.

"I can't tell whether Sandeep will play tomorrow. It is not necessary that he will play, though he is practicing as he did before the first game." Rach said his players were as fit as fiddle and a change of climate would not affect his side. "If the weather is a bit cold in Quetta, the same will be the conditions for Pakistan as well."