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The Indian men's hockey team met Pakistan in their opening fixture at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Saturday and as expected, there was high drama right until the last minute.
In the first quarter, SV Sunil made a scintillating run and set it up for the 18-year-old Dilpreet Singh who scored with a calm and composed finish. Then, India further increased their lead in the second quarter through Harmanpreet Singh, who converted from a penalty corner.
However, after half-time, trailing 0-2, Pakistan stepped up their game even as Indians lost their shape in the middle. The arch-rivals reduced the deficit to one goal via a strike from Muhammad Irfan Jr. Later on, in the dying seconds of the match, Ali Mubashar scored the equaliser from a penalty corner.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, former captain of the Indian hockey team, Viren Rasquinha felt that India's contrasting performances in the two halves let them down.
"It was a tale of two halves. India played really well in the first half. I think they did they to take a two-goal advantage. SV Sunil was outstanding throughout the match and it was his turn of pace that created the goal. Also, it was a cool and composed finish by Dilpreet Singh. Sreejesh was very impressive, I thought he made several outstanding saves through the match," he said.
"In the second half, though, India were very poor. There were too many turnovers of possession, they lost the ball very frequently. Moreover, they allowed Pakistan to dictate the match in the second half. I think a bit of complacency seeped in after the 2-0 lead. Once Pakistan scored their first goal, the entire momentum was with them," Rasquinha added.
On being asked what could have been done differently, the 37-year-old said, "The midfield could have controlled the pace of the match better which would have helped in keeping possession. They just tried to attack and as a result, they could not even hold the ball for 3-4 passes in the second half. At times, keeping ball possession become critical and everyone is involved in that, so there were too many individual errors."
During the last moments in the game, there were two referrals for a foot inside the Indian circle. The second one, which ultimately resulted in the penalty corner through which Pakistan equalised, turned out to be a controversial one.
Rasquinha felt it was a 'poor' decision as he said, "I think the video umpire took a poor decision at the end. However, in the overall scheme of things, the way Pakistan played, I think they deserved to draw."
