India will once again take on Pakistan at the ongoing Hockey World League Semifinals in London as the sides clash to determine which side will enter the 5th-6th classification match. Both sides lost their quarterfinals matches and will vie for a better finish as the tournament reaches its business end.
The top four sides in the semis qualify for the Hockey World League finals but India will be featuring in the final tournament, scheduled to begin in December, by virtue of being the host nation. The Men in Green will be looking to avenge their 7-1 loss on Sunday and will look to put up a better fight this time around.
India started off the tournament in fine fashion, winning their first three group matches against Scotland (4-1), Canada (3-0) and Pakistan (7-1) before losing 3-1 to the Netherlands in their final group stage. However, in the quarterfinal, they were up for a huge surprise as Malaysia ran out 3-2 winners, making this India’s second loss to their Asian rivals after the 1-0 defeat at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2017.
Pakistan, on the other hand, had a disastrous start to their HWL Semis campaign. They were blanked in their first three games by Netherlands, Canada and India by 4-0, 6-0 and 7-1 scorelines respectively. They made it through to the quarters by defeating Scotland 3-1 but were knocked out by Argentina by the same scoreline in the last eight.
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Squads
India – Akash Chikte, Vikas Dahiya, Pradeep Mor, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Jasjit Singh Kular, Harmanpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Sumit, Satbir Singh, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Harjeet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh
Pakistan – Amjad Ali, Mazhar Abbas, Nawaz Ashfaq, Aleem Bilal, Abubakr Mahmood, Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Atif Mushtaq, Tasawwar Abbas, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Umar Bhutta, M.Irfan Jr, Arslan Qadir, Ali Shan, Mohammad Dilber, Ejaz Ahmed, Abdul Haseem Khan, Azfar Yaqoob, Umair Sarfraz.
Match prediction
The result against Malaysia will be a real jolt for Roelant Oltmans’ men and they will look to make amends against their arch rivals. For Pakistan, it is a perfect opportunity to exact revenge and rub salt into Indian wounds but we expect India to have enough fuel in the tank to see off the challenge.
Verdict – India 3-1 Pakistan
Live match information
Time – 4.15 PM IST
Venue – Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, London
Broadcasting – Star Sports 2 HD/SD
Live Streaming – Hotstar
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