Whistle-blower plays the villain

But the match was also witness to some poor umpiring and though Pakistan was the visibly dominant side throughout the match, their superiority cannot be restricted to any specific area of play. The difference was in the team playing as a unit and managing to keep the Indians at bay.

On the attack from the word go, Pakistan came close to taking a lead in the sixth minute itself through Rehan Butt but the striker hit the ball wide and over. Thereafter, the assaults continued and for the first 35 minutes, it was Pakistan all the way. They got two penalty corners, but Abbas was thwarted by the alert Indian defence. Skipper Waseem failed to stop the first 8212; a nice combination 8212; while in the second Indian custodian Adrian D8217;Souza reached Abbas even before he could take the flick, deflecting the ball out.

There was also an open chance when Kashif Jawwad failed to trap the ball in front of the goalmouth in the 29th minute. Pakistan finally went into half time with a 1-0 lead when Mohammad Saqlain marked his comeback to international hockey with a powerful shot, leaving D8217;Souza with no chance.

At this stage, the hosts looked all set to romp home with an easy win, despite the resoluteness of the Indian defence.

The visitors, in contrast, could come close to scoring on only two occasions: A brilliant pass by Arjun Halappa from the right in the 18th minute was wasted as Hari Prasad failed to trap it inside the shooting circle. And Tushar Khandekar made a mess of an opportunity to slam the ball past the Pakistan goalkeeper in the 33rd minute.

But the second half was a different affair. As the teams resumed play, India pushed for the equaliser and suddenly the opposition was on the back foot. India finally scored off a penalty corner deflection by Vivek Gupta in the 57th minute.

But then the match suddenly went into fast-forward mode in the last five minutes when a penalty corner to Pakistan resulted in a controversial penalty stroke decision after a deflected ball hit Viren Rasquinha. Abbas made no mistake in scoring the winner, and achieving his landmark in the process.

The officials did India another disservice when umpire Tim Pullman refused to award a clear penalty stroke to the Indians in the 68th minute.

After the match, coach Gerhard Rach actually told reporters: 8216;8216;There was only one fool on the field and that was the umpire.8217;8217;

Strong words indeed.

To discuss the Indians8217; performance on the whole, the attack remains the big Achilles8217; Heel. Still. But the defence is improving by leaps and bounds, with the effect that the backline has become India8217;s lifeline in this tournament. And against Pakistan, skipper Dilip Tirkey reasserted his importance in the team with an excellent day out on-field.

The result increases Pakistan8217;s chances of making it to the finals, while India is still in contention for the bronze.

In other matches, Holland booked a spot in the final with a comprehensive 4-2 victory over Spain while Germany drew their match against New Zealand 1-1.