India entered the final of the Asian Champions Trophy after registering a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan in Doha, on Monday. A confident India overcame the first half blues to emerge victorious in the penultimate match of the Asian Champions Trophy.
While Rupinder Pal Singh and Chenglansena scored the goals for India, Pakistan’s lone goal came from the stick of Waqas Mohammad.
It was India’s fourth straight win in the tournament after they had beaten China (4-0), Japan (3-1) and Oman (11-0) in their previous matches.
After a barren first half, the game came alive soon after the lemon time.
Youngster Danish Mujtaba sprinted past a host of rival defenders and entered the circle but was stick-checked by a Pakistani defender in front of the goal mouth, leading to Malaysian umpire Lingam Karuppusaky signal a penalty stroke.
Rupinder converted it for the first goal to give India the lead before Chenglensana made use of a gem pass from Gurwinder Chandi to enhance the lead through field effort in the 51st minute.
Pakistan replied through their third penalty corner. The Indian goalkeeper stopped the shot, but Waqas collected the rebound which was shoulder high and tapped in for an easy goal.
The Indians protested for high ball, but the umpires stood their ground.
Shortly after Pakistan reduced the margin, India suffered on account of yellow card to vice-captain Raghunath but they managed to hold on to the lead till the end. Pakistan built up their attacks and even got a penalty corner right at the end but Indian defence stood to the task.
India were also poor with their penalty corner conversions as they were unable to convert any of the four corners they won in the match.
