India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 to script their third win on-the-trot in the Azlan Shah Cup.

NEW DELHI (espnstar.com) - India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 to script their third win on-the-trot in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia on Thursday.

With nine points from five matches, India are third in the league standings and have a fair chance to make the title round. India won the bronze in the last two editions of the championship.

India rode on goals from Sandeep Singh (6th minute) and Diwakar Ram (20th) to lead 2-0 at the breather. Mohammed Saqlain (58th) scored the only goal for the Beijing Olympics-bound Pakistan team. Both of India's goals came from penalty corners.

While the forwards put up a good show, some smart goalkeeping by Adrian D'Souza helped India hang on to the slender lead. After losing the first two games against New Zealand and Argentina, this has been a good comeback by the young Indian side.

Indian coach A K Bansal attributed the success to the mental toughness of his players. "Normally, we are not mentally strong enough to go for a win while facing Pakistan. But, for a change, we were psychologically not down today. That's why from the beginning we were dominating," Bansal said after the match.

"Once we were mentally ready, the results were there on the field. We scored early goals, put them on the defensive and had a great first half," he added.

In other matches on Thursday, Belgium beat Malaysia 4-2. This is Malaysia's third loss in the tournament going down to Pakistan (2-3) and Argentina (5-0). In the last match of the day, New Zealand beat Canada 3-0.

Friday is a rest day. The tournament's last group matches will be on Saturday when Argentina face Canada, India play Malaysia and New Zealand take on Belgium.