New Delhi: Riding on Qadir’s fine brace Pakistan beat India 4-3 in a high-octane seven goal thriller in the second semi-final of the FIH Champions Trophy 2014 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
Pakistan will now face Olympics Champions Germany – who defeated Australia 3-2 in the other semis – in the final on Sunday while, India will play Australia for the third spot.
Both the teams dished out an attacking brand of hockey right from the word go as Indian custodian P Sreejesh was tested twice inside 10 minutes of the first quarter by the Pakistani strikers.
Pakistan, who beat the Netherlands 4-2 in the quarters, were 1-0 down when Gurjinder Singh opened scoring with a well-converted penalty corner in the 12th minute of the first quarter.
Pakistan came back strong in the second quarter and equalised, courtesy Muhammad Arsalan Qadir’s goal, in the 17th minute. Muhammad Waqas then gave Pakistan lead with a goal in the 32nd minute just after the half-time break.
Dharamvir Singh brought the Indians back in the game with an equaliser in the 38th minute but Pakistan’s Muhammad Irfan put them in lead again with a 44th-minute goal. But Pakistan’s 3-2 lead was very short-lived as Chandanda Thimmaiah scored in the 45th minute to bring India back on level terms.
India wasted too many goal scoring opportunities in the third quarter as their strikers committed silly mistakes.
The match came down to wire and in the 59th minute as Arsalan found himself in the penalty box and after making a swift turn chipped it over the keeper for the winner.