India stopped in tracks by last-gasp Sohail winner

Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar (R) dives to stop the ball by India's Tushar Khandekar (L) in the third hockey test in Peshawar, Sept 29. Pakistan won 3-2. AFP

Pakistan - Penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas scored two minutes from fulltime Wednesday to snatch a 3-2 victory for Pakistan over archrival India in the third hockey test.

Pakistan was quick to put Indian defence under pressure in the first half and Mudassar Ali Khan drew first blood in the 15th minute when his powerful strike from top of the circle put D'Souza on the wrong foot. Ten minutes later, Pakistan's forward Shakeel Abbasi dodged past two Indian defenders in the striking circle and scored his team's second goal.

Tushar Khandekar grabbed a goal for India in the 48th minute off a fine pass from Hari Parsadhad, before setting up the equaliser for Arjun Halappa in the 61st minute.

However, Abbas managed to convert a 68th minute penalty corner when the ball went into the goal after deflecting off the left glove of Indian goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza.

"It's nice to go 2-1 up in the series after we lost the second game by a wide margin," said Pakistan's Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans.

Abbas raised his goal-tally to 263 - five short of a new world record of goals in international hockey. Dutchman Paul Litjens holds the current record with 267.

Indian forwards earned three short corners in the first half but their main penalty corner striker Sandeep Singh failed to cash in on. "We wasted three short corners which was not great effort," said India's German coach Gerhard Rach.

Pakistan now takes a 2-1 lead in the eight-match series, with the fourth match scheduled to be played in Lahore on Friday. Both teams then travel to India for the remaining four matches of the series, which is being played after a lapse of five years. Pakistan won the opening match 2-1 in southern port city of Karachi while India roared back with a comprehensive 4-1 win at Quetta.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin