Not again!

But the match was more akin to a swinging pendulum; it moved from one end to the other — both in terms of the attacks and counterattacks and in terms of dominance.

The hosts bounced back with a vengeance, scoring the equaliser in the very next minute. Custodian Adrian D’Souza did not rush out early as he usually does, and Sohail Abbas is not one to miss out on such a large angle.

But the Indians, for a change, refused to go on the back foot and continued pressing forward. But their forwards, after the initial flurry, were the culprits once again, missing several sitters and letting go of open scoring chances.

‘‘We had at least 10 shots at goal. But if the strikers are not able to finish a move even after being 4-5 against one defender inside the opposition ‘D’, what can I say,’’ asked coach Gerhard Rach after the match. ‘‘They (Pakistan) did not win the match, we lost it. This loss can only be called a big gift from us to them.’’

The win was indeed a gift, what with the mistakes India committed. Tushar Khandekar missed an open shot at goal in the fifth minute, as did V S Vinay soon afterwards. In the next two minutes, India had three chances through Ignace Tirkey, Sandeep Michael and Arjun Halappa, but each of them hit straight at goalkeeper Salman Akbar, who padded the balls away to safety. And of the five penalty corners that India got, twice India failed to even trap the ball properly on top of the ‘D’.

And, probably because of their confidence on the ability (or lack of it) of the Indian forwards, Pakistan launched their offensives, coming up with quick counters and sudden strikes to put pressure on the Indian defence. Pakistan got three penalty corners in two minutes but D’Souza went back to his formula for success. He charged out early, denying Sohail any more scoring chances in the match.

The Pakistanis, however, did not have to wait long to take the lead as Rehan Butt ended his scoring drought in the tournament with an opportunistic deflection after man-of-the-series Shakeel Abbasi made a foray into the Indian circle off a counter attack and sent in a powerful cross to Rehan.

Pakistan swelled the lead further when they scored from a variation off their seventh penalty corner with Mudassar Ali Khan deflecting in a Sohail carpet shot, before India reduced the margin.

Spain take the title

Spain won 4-2 in the final against Holland to win their first-ever title in the tournament, denying the Dutch a chance to score the only hat-trick of titles in the elite competition. And deservedly so. A brace by FIH Promising Player of the Year Santiago Freixa — both brilliant in their planning, movement and execution — was the perfect example of the superiority of the Spaniards. The Dutch were off-colour and Spain reaped the rewards of persistence and consistency.

In the other match, Germany beat New Zealand 2-1 to finish fifth and qualify for the next edition of the event in Chennai.