KUALA LUMPUR: India and Pakistan opened their Sultan of Johor Cup hockey campaign with a fast moving 3-3 draw at the Taman Daya Stadium in Johor Baru today.
However, it was not a smooth game as both teams made too many mistakes in the opponents' semi-circle as well as their own.
India scored first off Lakhra Amandeep (30th), but Pakistan equalised through Ahmad Arbaz (31st) and then took a 2-1 lead off Shahid Abdul (31st).
The remainder of the match was full of errors from both sides, and India were lucky to share points. The other two India goals were scored by Lalage Aditya (56th) and Uttam Singh (59th), while Arbaz scored his brace in the 58th.
The Man of the Match went to penalty corner flicker Arbaz, but there is another story behind his determination in the first match.
Pakistan manager Naz Khokhar Asif said his two-goal hero did not travel with the team to Malaysia as he hit a snag with his visa application.
"The entire team except for Arbaz reached Malaysia earlier while he only received his visa late Thursday and rushed off to board a flight.
"His route took him to Doha and then Malaysia and he arrived at 5am (Friday) and he was determined to give his best in the tournament and scored two goals even though after travelling for more than eight hours to reach Johor," said Naz Khokhar.
India coach C.R. Kumar said: "My players committed too many mistakes but that is to be expected in a first match of a tournament especially at the junior level. I believe when we play Malaysia next (Saturday), all we have to do is tighten up the mistakes and the result can be different than today."
Malaysian team consultant Stephen van Huizen watched the India-Pakistan match and his analysis was simple.
"India are very fast in attack and when they enter the semi-circle, they either win a penalty corner or take a shot at goal. We play them next, and so Malaysia must attack in numbers, but also be ready to fall back to defend swiftly to stop India's counter attack."