Pakistan beat defending Azlan Shah Cup holders New Zealand 4-3. PHOTO: AZLANSHAHCUP.COM
KUALA LAMPUR: Pakistan held on to beat defending champions New Zealand, 4-3, in their opening match of the 2013 Azlan Shah Cup on Saturday.
Pakistan, who had secured the bronze medal in the 2012 Champions Trophy before winning the Asian Champions Trophy, raced to a 3-0 lead against sixth-ranked New Zealand.
However, the Kiwis pegged Pakistan back with three goals of their own.
With just 12 minutes remaining in the game, Muhammad Imran displayed some fantastic hockey off a penalty corner to score his third and Pakistan's fourth goal of the match.
From then on Pakistan hung on to see out the match and grab three points.
Earlier, the game suffered a delayed of 30 minutes due to wet weather conditions and began at 4:35pm local time.
New Zealand won last year’s trophy with a dominant display of attacking hockey.
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Hockey is real strong man game... It is one of the toughest game in world. good luck guys and do work hard
Currently New Zealand is ranked higher than Paklistan so its a welcome win. However Pakistan's weak defense line has been again exposed.
The forwards cannot always compensate for poor defense especially against stronger teams. There were times in late 60's / early 70's when Pakistan hardly conceded more than a couple of goals in the entire tournament. Now even China can easily score against us.
Mashallah! Inshallah 2013 is the year of Pakistannnn!!!