LAHORE: The Pakistan junior hockey team hit back twice to hold the fancied World XI to a 3-3 draw in the second and last match of the series here on Sunday at the National Hockey Stadium.
As a handful of holiday crowd watched over, the green shirts roared back to the first level at 2-2 then finally wrapping up the match at 3-3. It was a remarkable performance on Pakistani junior players’ part who were beaten 5-1 by the star-studded World XI, a mixture of sixteen top-notch players from six countries.
Inter-Provincial Coordination Federal Minister, Riaz Hussain Pirzada was the chief guest on the occasion and both the teams were introduced to him before the start of the match.
Also, present on the occasion were Pakistan Hockey Federation President Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, Senior Secretary Shahbaz Ahmad and a number of former hockey Olympians and sponsors of the series.
The Pakistani junior team struck with brilliance, denying a win to the experienced World XI which had mounted persistent pressure in the fourth quarter to restore their edge. However, the home side foiled all efforts with superb attacking skills and counter attacks.
In a match of experience versus youth, World XI drew the lead with a 28th minute goal, two minutes before the halftime while Pakistan juniors wasted as many as four shorts corners out of a total of eight of play, in direct and indirect conversion drills.
World XI forward line Roderick Weusthof, Nahuel Salis, John Escarre, Rob Reckersw and Diego Paz created a number of scoring sitters in the first half but the Pakistani defence denied them a goal. Pakistani keeper Adil Rao also stood under the bar and saved scoring sitters.
The main weakness of the home team was a lack of coordination, planning and a poor finish inside the striking circle; they wasted ideal sitters in the first half by fumbling the ball besides failing to apply proper force on the ball and timely shooting in when they had open goal scoring chances.
On the other hand, Pakistani goalkeeper Adl Rao demonstrated agility and prowess under the bar and thwarted numerous scoring sitters of the World XI with greater anticipation.
World XI tightened its grip on the match by adding their second goal, six minutes into the second half when Nahuel Salis found the goalpost with an angular shot which left the goalkeeper guessing.
Two goals down, Pakistan junior side made their presence felt on the ground by converting their fifth penalty corner into a goal through Rizwan Ali, one minute after World XI made it 2-2.
During the 42nd minute in a lovely right-side move, Adeel Latif attempted on the goal with a forceful shot and the ball sailed into the post after a deflection from the goalkeeper.
After the score hitting 2-2, the game turned into a battle with both sides using every tactic to re-establish supremacy.
It was once again the World XI that took the lead. Off their second short corner of the play in the 52nd minute, Roderick gave no time to Pakistani goalkeepers and a host of defenders to make any move with a superb push as the ball swiftly landed inside the post.
Six minutes later, engineered a fine field move and Naveed Alam stood firm after rival goalkeeper defied his first attempt and with his second resolute effort he put the goal in to lock the score at 3-3 amid applause from the crowd and the team mater.
Later, the chief guest Inter-Provincial Coordination Federal Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada along with sponsors of the two-match series distributed prizes among the players. He gave the winning trophy to the World IX captain Roderick.
