Hockey: Depleted Pakistan thrashed by ruthless Australia

World champions outclass Greenshirts 8-2 to go through to hockey final.

KARACHI: Playing with three injured players, Pakistan suffered an embarrassing 8-2 defeat to world champions Australia in their third match of the tri-series hockey tournament in Bunbury.

The Greenshirts went into the contest with Shafqat Rasool, Haseem Khan and Mohammad Imran carrying injuries that were caused by a brawl in the drawn match against India. Pakistan were also without captain Shakeel Abbasi, who served a one-match ban as a result of the altercation in the match against the arch-rivals, which also saw three players and two officials from India being banned.

However, Pakistan began well in the match against Australia with Sohail Abbas scoring twice on penalty corners while the world champions hit three goals. With the score 3-2 in favour of Australia, both sides went into the first-half interval, hoping for a win.

But that was soon put to rest as Australia scored five goals in the second-half to maintain their unbeaten run in the tournament and secure their place in the final.

‘Brawl affected team’s performance’

Meanwhile, Pakistan team manager Khwaja Junaid blamed the brawl against India for the huge defeat.

“We went as a depleted side,” Junaid told The Express Tribune from Bunbury. “We played without a captain while three of our main players were carrying injuries. Obviously the incident affected our performance.”

The manager added there was a factor of burn-out affecting the players as well.

“We are playing tough matches with short gaps. This was our third match in five days and it affects performance.”

Junaid said that Australia, exploiting home advantage, utilised all their players.

“Australia used all their players. They were fresh as they used 28 players through substitution while we didn’t have many changes.”

Despite the two defeats to Australia, Pakistan are still in with a chance to play the November 3 final in Perth. India face Australia today before Pakistan meet their arch-rivals on Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st,  2011.