Pakistan strike in the final 13 minutes

A mid-field blunder saw Akhtar Ali scoring in the 57th minute before a 67th minute strike by Rehan Butt helped Pakistan level the score in the final match of the Pakistan-leg at the National Hockey Stadium. The teams would now proceed to India tomorrow to play the remaining four matches of the friendship series to be held in Delhi (October 4), Chandigarh (October 6), Amritsar (October 8) and Hyderabad (October 10).

Vikram Pillay (15th), Sandeep Singh (39th), Arjun Halappa (49th) and Ignace Tirkey (51st) scored for the Indians while Pakistan struck through Sohail Abbas (14th and 42nd), Akhtar Ali (57th) and Rehan Butt (67th).

The Indians played superbly for most part of the match but a sloppy display towards the end dashed their hopes of winning the match and squaring the series.

The match saw an intense battle for supremacy between the bitter rivals as both the sides dished out some exciting stuff much to the delight of the capacity crowd.

The Indians, who seemed to be improving with every outing, were no doubt the better side in the first half with their forwards displaying good co-ordination putting the Pakistan defence and goalkeeper Salman Akbar under tremendous pressure.

Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep Michael, the three strikers, looked in very good touch as they made some dangerous moves but failed to capitalise on those due to poor finishing.