HWL Semifinals 2017: India record biggest-ever win against Pakistan, create history

It was a historic day for Manpreet Singh’s men

India created a memorable piece of history after recording their biggest-ever win against Pakistan in the history of their bitter rivalry with a 7-1 win at the ongoing Hockey World League semifinals. The teams faced each other for the first time in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne where India ran out 1-0 winners and since then, the rivalry has become the most iconic one in the history of the sport.

In the 167 games they had played before this, it was Pakistan who had the upper hand in terms of head-to-head, but in recent times it is the Men in Blue who have been better. Since 2010, India have won 13 out of 28 encounters, including this match, with seven ending in draws as well.

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India’s biggest margin of victory had earlier been 7-4 against their arch rivals in the 2003 Champions Trophy and in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. On the other hand, Pakistan have two 7-1 wins in their favour, at the 1980 Champions Trophy and the iconic 1982 Asian Games, which is considered to be one of the most important games in the two nations’ history in the sport. 

In today’s game, it was Pakistan that started brightly, fashioning some good chances in the opening exchanges. However, it was India who opened the scoring against the run of play as Harmanpreet Singh converted from India’s second penalty corner opportunity, his low shot going past the keeper.

India then started shifting gears and slowly turned on the style as Talwinder Singh quickly scored a double, the first of which came from a delightful flowing move. Harmanpreet Singh then scored again as India opened up a 4-0 lead.

That was not enough as three more goals were added, two by Akashdeep Singh and one by Pardeep Mor as India wrapped up a monumental win – their 56^th over the Men in Green. 

This is India’s third win in a row in the competition. In their opener, they defeated Scotland 4-1, coming from behind thanks to goals from Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh. In their second, they outclassed Canada 3-0, keeping a clean sheet. On the other hand, this is Pakistan’s third loss on the trot, after two embarrassing outings against Holland and Canada.