Karachi, Feb 18: A Hard-earned record proved heart-breaking in the end, as India crashed to a 2-4 defeat handing over the series to Pakistan in the nine-match Test showdown at the PHA Stadium, here today.India forced 13 penalty corners but has nothing to show for their efforts when the hooter signalled the dominance of the opposition with three matches still to go in the Pakistan leg.The penalty corner drilled lacked bite or imagination as the Pakistan goalkeeper Mohammed Qasim and the defence comfortably thwarted the desperate visitors. Today's win also gave Pakistan an unassailable 5-1 lead, killing all interest in an endeavour that has left the Indians with a lot of soul-searching to do in the days to come.Today's game was a bit different from the one at Lahore as Pakistan had better ball possession in the first half, while the Indians were all over Pakistani territory in the second.India started with four forwards and a withdrawn forward and seemed to be settling down well, when Atif Bashirstunned them with a counter-attack. Bashir, who had scored four goals in the Indian leg, was left unmarked as Mohammed Sarwar found him running inside the Indian circle. Bashir's hit left goalkeeper Jagdish Ponnappa clueless.Ponnappa failed to react yet again when Naveed Asim got Pakistan's second goal midway through the first half. Right-in Mohammed Sarwar took a pass from Mohammed Saqlain and sent a searing pass to the left from just inside the Indian 25-yard line. Asim, overlapping from the left, trapped well and took a hard hit to the right of Ponnappa. After Pakistan's third goal by Sarwar, Ponnappa was replaced by Poonacha.While Ponnappa had an off-day, outside-left Rajesh Chauhan looked a bundle of nerves, whenever in sight of Pakistan goal. He missed two clear chances in the second half and also goofed up twice in indirect penalty corner tries.``Chauhan should have got a hat-trick,'' a disappointed Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran said later. ``I don't know why the boys are missing so many easychances.``I have been pointing out mistakes to the boys, but they fail to learn. What is the use of variety in penalty corner drills, when you cannot find the goal. Who will remember our dominance or our fightback in the second half.'' he added.Down 0-4 with 17 minutes to go, India scored twice in quick succession. But that mattered little. After Sarwar made it 4-0 in another counter-attack, Kamal Horo gave India their first goal, beating Qasim with a pass from the right by Saini.The 13th penalty corner resulted in a stroke when Saini was infringed by Qasim in front of the goal-mouth. Dhillon converted.Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh expressed satisfaction over the series win, but admitted that the number of penalty corners conceded were alarming.
