Pakistan inflicted a 2-1 defeat on a struggling Indian side to make a clean sweep of the Indian leg of the six-Test hockey series at the Surjit Singh Stadium on Tuesday.
Riding high after victories in the first two matches, Pakistan ensured India remained on the mat with another fluent win against the hosts, who need to regroup urgently if they are to make a match of the contest.
In the most dreary match of the series so far, all the goals were scored in the first half. Tariq Aziz (12th minute) and Mohammed Saqlain (31st) netted the goals for the visitors while Tejbir Singh shot home (27th) for the hosts.
Thanks to the lacklustre performance by the Indians, Pakistan registered the comfortable win despite not playing to their potential.
The initial part of the match was more or less a slow-paced affair. But Pakistan went 1-0 up in the 12th minute as Tariq Aziz struck the goal after getting a good ball from the right. There was no one to thwart his shot and the Pak striker hiked his goal tally to three in the series.
The match picked up some pace after the first goal. The Indians tried to score the equaliser by bringing in the experienced but a half-fit Vikram Pillay.
{{/usCountry}}The match picked up some pace after the first goal. The Indians tried to score the equaliser by bringing in the experienced but a half-fit Vikram Pillay.
{{/usCountry}}Pillay immediately carved out some good moves to feed the Indian attackers but they could not utilise the opportunities. More