India consolidates the top position in the Men's Asian Champions Trophy by beating arch-rival Pakistan. India thrashes the neighbours by 3-1 goals. Both India and Pakistan are the joint defending champions of the Asian Champions Trophy.
Harmanpreet Singh scored two goals for India from the penalty corner. Meanwhile, the other goal was scored by Akashdeep Singh.
India's dominance
India went 1-0 up just in the eighth minute of the match as Harmanpreet scored from the penalty corner. One powerful drag-flick was good enough to give India a great start to the match. Furthermore, India kept on pushing the Pakistani defence but without any result to show. India had to finish the first quarter with a 1-0 score as Lalit Upadhyay was unable to take the advantage of a Sumit Kumar cross.
Both India and Pakistan kept to penetrating the opponent but none could change the scoreline. The second quarter looked a bit draining for the men in green in Dhaka.
In the third quarter, India's long wait for the goal came to an end. A brilliant assist from Sumit Kumar delivered an easy tap-in for Akashdeep Singh. Akashdeep did not miss the opportunity to double the lead for the men in blue.
Pakistan's comeback
However, Pakistan responded with an emergency. Just three minutes later of the Indian goal, Junaid Manzoor deflected a ball from his right to make the comeback for the Pakistani team.
Pakistan looked more confident after the goal. They came very near to equalising the deficit but it was Suraj Karkera who made close-range saves to deny the goals.
Harmanpreet's another rocket drag-flick
On the downside for Pakistan, with just seven minutes left in the game, Harmanpreet Singh nailed another penalty corner to take the lead 3-1 for the Indian team.
Although, Suraj Karkera had to make another save to make it impossible for the opponent to come back. Post that, Varun Kumar also missed a penalty corner but India had already taken the game away from Pakistan.
Now, with 7 points in the three games, India leads the Men's Asian Champions Trophy points table. India will play Japan on Sunday at 3 pm. That will be their last game of the tournament.