Great teamwork and high penalty conversion rate script Indian win in their World Cup opener against arch-rivals Pakistan.

By Soumitra Bose

What if India played ‘holi’ on Monday with blue? Not red, not green but just cool blue. Because that was the colour that swept across the National Stadium on Sunday night like a wave as India blew away Pakistan in a telling start to their World Cup campaign.

India dismissed Pakistan 4-1 and the scoreline could actually have been healthier. A double strike by Sandeep Singh after Shivendra Singh drew first blood gave India a rousing start on Day 1 of the world championship. Prabhjot Singh underlined his class, scoring India’s third goal after the hosts took the breather leading 2-0.

Indian Olympic Association president and the controversial Suresh Kalmadi surely knows how to hog the limelight. As the Indian team went on a victory lap and officials danced to some Bhangra on the PA system, Kalmadi announced a lakh each for the team and the support staff! 

Backed by a capacity crowd at the new-look stadium, India took the game by storm. Using both flanks, India put the Pakistani deep defence under tremendous pressure right from the start.  

Tushar Khandekar almost got the first goal in the eighth minute. An attack fashioned by Rajpal Singh and Vikram Pillai opened the face of the Pakistan goal, but Khandekar’s fierce finish met goalkeeper Salman Akbar’s chest. 

India had to play a versatile game to unnerve the Pakistanis. The mobility of the mid-field and the intelligent use of the flanks, caught the Pakistanis by surprise. By playing a lot of long and close balls, the Indians played the entire first session in the Pakistan half. 

Coach Jose Brasa used his bench like a cricket captain who uses his strike bowlers in short spells. Almost everyone played in 8-10 minute spells and that kept the energy levels high throughout an adrenaline-sapping contest. 

India’s short-corner conversion made the difference in the first half. Scoring two goals from three short corners was indeed amazing. In the 28th minute, Shivendra capped the second short corner with an opportunistic finish after Sandeep struck the goalie after Rajpal pushed cleanly from the line. 

India won their third corner with seconds left for half-time, via the TV referral system. The result was goal No. 2, a classical drag flicker’s finish by the specialist, Sandeep. India could not have asked for a better opening session.

Prabhjot carried on from where India left at half-time. Two minutes into the second session, the veteran capped yet another great teamwork in the scoring area. The fruit of Gurwinder Chandi’s alacrity was eaten by Prabhjot with a cool finish (3-1).

India put the game beyond Pakistan when Sandeep scored his second goal in the 55th minute. It was yet another classical finish as the former captain stabbed the ball with a brutal flick at the top of the net.

Even though Pakistan were outplayed in all departments of the game, luck deserted them to a great extent. Veteran defender and former skipper Sohail Abbas twice hit the crosspiece from penalty corners. 

In the 58th minute, he finally found the mark with a trademark finish that left goalie Sreejesh with no answer. Abbas’ goal was a much-needed consolation for a Pakistani team that lacked spark in such a needle game.