Pakistan XI beat BP, stay alive

NEW DELHI, December 4: Pakistan XI got a fresh lease when they staged a tremendous fightback to scrape past Bharat Petroleum 5-4 in pool ...

NEW DELHI, December 4: Pakistan XI got a fresh lease when they staged a tremendous fightback to scrape past Bharat Petroleum 5-4 in pool A quarter-final league match of the Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament at the National stadium here today.

Having lost their first match to Air India, the Pakistanis needed a win to stay afloat in the tournament and they managed it after facing stiff resistance from the Bangalore outfit. It was a see-saw battle all the way as the teams fought hard to wrest the initiative. Even though the Pakistanis conceded four goals, they gave a controlled display and used their resources well to gain vital points. Internationals Danish Kaleem, Mohammed Khalid and Ijaz Ahmed Sr used their experience to pull the team out out trouble — once in each half.

Trailing 1-2 a minute into the second session, Pakistan score twice in succession to surge ahead. Then again, when Bharat Petroleum pulled back two to seize the lead, the undaunted Pakistanis equalised and scored again in the dying minutes to stun the Indians.

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Bharat Petroleum took the lead twenty minutes in the first session when Indrajit Chadha struck to the right of the goal-keeper on a pass from K T Mohan. The Pakistanis who were dominating in the midfield till then made two changes in the forward line to get the goals — Amir Sahi and Mohammed Asif in place of M Naeem and Shahid Sarwar. The move paid off and Danish Kaleem equalised with a scorching hit through a penalty corner.

The second half saw an absorbing tussle as Bharat Petroleum surged ahead when Indrajit scored his second on a pass from Deepak Kumar. Not to be outdone, Ijaz Ahmed Sr, who was outstanding upfront, scored twice in succession to make it 2-1 in favour of Pakistan.

Just when Pakistan seemed to be gaining control, Bharat Petroleum captain Ravi Naicker equalised. The Bangalore side pressed on and forced a penalty corner and Prakash scored in an indirect sequence. With just 10 minutes left Pakistan seemed to fighting a losing battle but they persevered and were rewarded as Shahid Rubbani equalised in a goalmouth melee. Bharat Petroleum crowded the defence, but Pakistan XI pressed hard to force a penalty corner. Kaleem’s hit was padded away by the goal-keeper Jude Menezes, Rubbani shot home the rebound which struck Menezes’ pads again and Naeem beat Menezes with a hard flick. In other action, CRPF beat Northern Railway 3-1 while BSF beat Air India Academy 2-1. Karan Pal Singh (2) and Tanvir Jamall scored for CRPF while Brijnev Singh scored for Northern Railway. Peter Tirkey and C Ekka scored for BSF and Gaurav reduced the margin for Academy team.