Shahbaz inspires Pakistan to victory

Peshawar, Feb 28: The uneven lines on the worn out Polygrass turf left the Indians look like school children learning the art of penalty-cor...

Peshawar, Feb 28: The uneven lines on the worn out Polygrass turf left the Indians look like school children learning the art of penalty-corner conversion on a cloudy evening at the Lala Ayub Hockey Stadium in this capital city of Pakistan’s tribal heartland. Every Indian fumble outside the Pakistani circle met the roaring approval of the jampacked stadium and so did the swift counter-attacks by the inspired home side which went on to register a 4-1 win in the opening match of the eight-Test series here today.

The Indians made a hash of seven penalty corners — five in the first session — and missed three clear chances in the second session to give their counterparts a morale-boosting victory in front of the home crowd. However, to their credit, the Indians dominated the match for most part, and were surely done in by the uneven circle line which made it difficult for them to stop the ball in the penalty circle.

The return of star forward Shahbaz Ahmed had the Pakistani crowd in raptures, who keptchanting his name throughout. And, genius showcased his vaunted touch to score the second goal after setting up Kamran Ashraf for the first strike.

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With the attention focussed on Shahbaz, the Indian forwards quietly worked up a neat rhythm. Sabu Varkey, who has also made a comeback after being in the wilderness for long, stole the show with his control and skills. Indian goalkeeper AB Subbaiah, who sat on the bench throughou was rattled today by the first two strikes and was caught out of position a few times in the second session, one of them resulting in Pakistan’s fourth goal.

Pakistan made the first strike as Shahbaz Ahmed scored on a pass from outside-right Rahim Khan. With the match slowly slipping out of their grasp, the Indians went all out on the attack, which gave the crafty Pakistani forwards the chance to slam in two more — through Tahir Zaman and Kamran Ashraf.

The consolation goal for the Indians came in the last quarter off a penalty-stroke. Mukesh Kumar was brought down by ImranYousuf in front of an open goal, and Ramandeep Singh converted with a feeble push.The Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran said that he was disappointed with the loss. But, he added, “Today’s display was encouraging in many ways. We missed seven penalty-corners and also several chances in the second half. We will surely make amends tomorrow.” he Indian manager MM Somaya blamed the uneven circle for the loss. But he felt that the side, “will have to convert their dominance into goals in the coming matches.”

According to Pakistan manager, Islahuddin, “The Indian forwards were terrific. Their defenders are also good, as we got only one penalty-corner.”