Harmanpreet scores brace as India beat Pakistan 4-0 in Asian Champions Trophy hockey
Chennai, Aug 9: Skipper Harmanpreet Singh struck twice from penalty corners as a dominant India thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan 4-0 to maintain their unbeaten run in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Wednesday.
Having already sealed their semifinal spot before the match, India played confidently and completely dominated the match, while Pakistan were always playing catch-up.
Harmanpreet handed India the lead converting the team's first penalty corner with a powerful low flick to the left of Pakistan goalkeeper Akmal Hussain just at the stroke of the first quarter.
India won their second penalty corner in the 23rd minute and Harmanpreet scored with a fierce drag-flick in between Pakistan goalkeeper Akmal's legs.
India continued to put pressure on Pakistan defence with constant attacks and in the process earned back-to-back penalty corners in the 30th minute but Harmanpreet failed on both occasion.
The Indians, however, asked for a video referral from the second opportunity claiming that the ball was heading into the goal and was stopped by Pakistan player's foot but the video referee rejected the home team's appeal.
India led Pakistan 2-0 at half-time.
Six minutes into the third quarter, India secured their third penalty corner and this time Jugraj Singh made no mistake to hand the hosts a comfortable 3-0 lead.
Pakistan earned a rare penalty corner, their second, in the 43rd minute but wasted the opportunity.
India made the scoreline 4-0 in their favour in the 55th minute when Akashdeep Singh deflected in Mandeep Singh's strike.
India earned five penalty corners in the match and converted three out of them.
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SRH qualifies for IPL playoff after rain washes out match against GT
Hyderabad, May 16: Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday qualified for the Indian Premier League play-offs after rain washed out their IPL match against Gujarat Titans here without a ball being bowled.
SRH thus became the third team to make the cut after following Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, who are currently occupying the top two places in the standings.
The Sunrisers received one point to take their tally to 15 points with one match to go. They will face Punjab Kings, who have already been eliminated, on May 19 in their last league assignment.
GT, the last year's runners-up and 2022 champions, were knocked out of the play-off race after their previous match was also abandoned due to rain. They thus end the season with 12 points from 14 matches.
The toss didn't happen at scheduled time of 7 pm due to rain and wet outfield. The rain intensified before settling into a steady shower as the covers and outfield stayed covered.
The cut-off time for a five-over game was 10:56 PM, which meant the drizzle needed to stop for mop-up to begin by around 10:15pm but with rain showing no signs of abating, the official decided to abandon the match.
It is the second game to be called off in this IPL, because of rain and wet outfield.
Four teams -- Chennai Super Kings (14), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (12), Delhi Capitals (14) and Lucknow Super Giants (12) -- are still in fray for the battle for the last spot.
If LSG win against Mumbai Indians on Friday, they will move to 14 points to stay mathematically alive but CSK will seal the spot if they beat RCB or the game is washed out on Saturday.
If RCB beat CSK by at least 18 runs or 11 balls to spare then they will grab the fourth available spot on the basis of net run-rate as they would be on 14 points, same as DC, CSK and LSG (if they win).
๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ are through to #TATAIPL 2024 Playoffs ๐งก
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 16, 2024
Which will be the final team to qualify ๐ค#TATAIPL | #SRHvGT | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/6Z7h5kiI4o
