India's young guns show what they are made up of as Pakistanis bite the dust in Asiad's Big Bash

Hockey: India's youth prevails over Pak

India's young guns show what they are made up of as Pakistanis bite the dust in Asiad's Big Bash

The India-Pakistan hockey match at the Aoti Sports Complex here on Saturday proved one basic fundamental tenet of modern hockeyu00a0-- that experience is no match for youth and fitness.

The Pakistan hockey team recalled veteran striker Rehan Butt (30), drag-flicker Sohail Abbas (35) and goalkeeper Salman Akbar (28) to the team after their 'young' side's poor showing at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

The tall Akbar was once again beaten by Sandeep's low pushesu00a0-- Sandeep scored his second goal in the 48th minute. And as for Sohail Abbas, he missed his only scoring opportunity when Pakistan's lone penalty corner in the 60th minute was neatly deflected by India custodian Bharat Chetri's stick.

In contrast, the comparatively younger Indian side played a faster game across the bouncy turf here. Forwards Dharamvir Singh (20), Sarvanjit Singh (22) and Tushar Khandker (25) ran riot in the Pakistan striking circle with frequent defence-splitting runs off which India should have scored at least twice more.

Pakistan's veteran midfielder Shakeel Abbasi brilliantly beat India custodian Chetri to make it 2-2 in the 43rd minute. He believes penalty corners were the difference between the two teams. "India have improved vastly in the penalty corner department and modern hockey is all about converting penalty corners," he said.

Dharamvir then gave India the lead for a second time (16th min) calmly side-stepping 'keeper Salman and beating him to his left.

Sandeep's drag flicks and Sardar Singh's stellar role in defence were the highlights of the match. Sandeep later told Sunday MiD DAY that scoring against Pakistan is always special. "It's like scoring against any other team but it feels good from within," he said.

Skipper Rajpal Singh proudly announced that India's Asian Games begins now. "There was a lot of hype surrounding this match and we are happy to have won it. But the real tournament for us starts now. We have one more league match which we have to win and top the pool and then play the all-important semi-final," he said.

India coach Jose Brasa was satisfied with the win but continued to criticise the quality of the playing surface. "The bouncy surface makes it advantageous for the defending team while an attacking team like ours, ends up struggling. I'd like to tell the FIH that if we have to play on such surfaces then we might as well go back to playing hockey on grass," he signed off.

Cut the emotion: Sohail

Pakistan's veteran drag-flicker Sohail Abbas may be a veteran of over 300 international caps and an equal, if not more, number of goals, but he admitted yesterday that conceding an India goal always hurts. "Given the traditional rivalry between both teams, conceding a goal against India always hurts.

If any other foreign country scores it's fine, but when India scores, there's a strange feeling," he told Sunday MiD DAY on Saturday. Further, the ace defender explained the importance of cutting out the emotional factor from an India-Pakistan hockey tie.

"There's obviously a lot of emotion going into an Indo-Pak match. But in reality, hockey or for that matter any game, is not won by emotion. For a team to win, the emotional factor has to be left out. I know it's easier said than done, but that's what modern hockey demands," added Abbas, who said he has no immediate plans of retiring from the game that he has served for over a decade.

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