Champions trophy: An epic semifinal of India versus Pakistan to watch for!

By ​Gaurav Kalra

India versus Pakistan for a place in the finals of the Champions trophy on later Saturday is certain to be a riveting battle. The Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar will be packed to its 7,000 capacity and over the 60 minutes of the contest, the home team can expect robust support. However, Pakistan are thirsting to avenge the defeat of the Asian Games final and have spectacularly overturned patchy early tournament form.

India’s campaign in the tournament started unsteadily. They were beaten in their opening two encounters by Germany and Argentina.

It was only after a 3-2 win in their final Pool B encounter against The Netherlands that confidence was restored in the camp. Buoyed by victory over the World Cup finalists, India overturned a two-goal deficit against world number four Belgium to win a fast-paced quarterfinal 4-2 on Thursday. “Ups and downs are a part of the game and I am delighted with the way the team came back,” captain Sardar Singh said after his team’s quarters triumph.

”Belgium is one of the toughest teams to beat and it is a good morale booster for the whole team as we enter the semifinals but we will not be taking things lightly.”

Taking things lightly against Pakistan will not be in an option in any case for India who have never featured in a Champions Trophy final in its 36-year history. While India did beat Pakistan in the Asian Games final, Pakistan had won the clash between the teams in the group stage. “We are aware Pakistan are a tough team and we have to be very strong against them,” said Hockey India High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans after the win over Belgium. “They are good in attacking as well as in defence. The aim is to win the tournament from here and it is possible if we maintain the same pace.

Pakistan, meanwhile, entered the tournament as the only team ranked outside the topten in the world. With their national federation in financial disarray, it needed the largesse of a businessman to even fund this trip to India. Not unlike their neighbours, Pakistan also started badly - with a 1-2 defeat to Belgium.

Then, they were decimated 2-8 by England and lost 0-3 to Australia in their other two Pool A matches. The format assured a quarterfinals spot to all eight nations but entering their clash against Pool B winners Netherlands, Pakistan were overwhelming underdogs.

Suddenly, a stuttering campaign came to life against the odds. For a first in 12 matches going back to 1998, Pakistan put it past the Dutch, shocking them with their skillful counterpunching tactics. Their 4-2 victory on Thursday was the shock of the tournament.

“We studied Holland’s defence in their previous matches and worked on our penalty corner conversions, which really helped us in scoring goals,” said Pakistan captain Muhammad Imran. “The young players in our team are showing immense potential and the credit goes to the whole team for displaying perfect team work.”

Pakistan coach Shehnaz Sheikh is looking forward to the Indian tie. "We are looking forward to taking on India in the semifinal as it will help in the revival of south Asian classic hockey.” Interestingly, it was the Pakistan Hockey Federation that started the Champions Trophy as an annual competition in 1978.

Pakistan have won three titles previously, but the last of those came way back in 1994. They won bronze in the last edition at Melbourne in 2012, beating India 3-2 in the play-off match.

However, over the last couple of years, Pakistan hockey have been consumed by turmoil. They failed to qualify for the World Cup earlier this year and were unable to participate at the Commonwealth Games because of a split in the national Olympic Association.

In the other semifinal, five-time defending champions and world champions Australia will take on Olympic gold medallists Germany.