While hockey has reached a nadir in Pakistan, India have made giant strides in the last five years, highlighted by the team’s comeback to the Olympic podium with two successive bronze medals and fitness standards that were never seen before.If the recent head-to-head record is looked at, Pakistan haven’t been able to beat India in their last 16 encounters. India have won 14 of those matches, while two ended as draws. It’s been eight years since Pakistan last defeated India, which was in the 2016 South Asian Games final in Guwahati.
But until the 2014 Asian Games final, the two teams had battled in several edge-of-the-seat thrillers, including in the finals at the Olympics and World Cup.
Here’s a brief narration of some of those memorable matches, as the two teams take each other on once again in the Asian Champions Trophy on Saturday:
1. Three Olympic finals
Melbourne 1956: It was India’s first meeting with Pakistan after partition in 1947, and the Balbir Singh Sr-led team went on to retain their gold with a 1-0 win. The match may not have produced classical hockey from two best teams in the world at that time, but it kept India’s unbeaten run in the Olympics since 1928 intact, as Randhir Singh Gentle’s goal in the third minute of a penalty bully (now called penalty corner) led to India’s sixth consecutive gold medal.
Rome 1960: Pakistan ended India’s run of six consecutive gold medals with a 1-0 victory through Naseer Ahmed Bunda’s goal to avenge their defeat at the Games four years ago.
Tokyo 1964: For the third consecutive edition of the Olympics, India and Pakistan reached the final to showcase their continued dominance in world hockey. It was India’s turn to take revenge for their loss in the 1960 final; but like the previous two gold-medal matches, this too produced just a solitary goal that came off the stick of Mohinder Lal in the 40th minute. It proved to be the winning goal in India’s 1-0 victory.
2. 1975 World Cup final: India etched its name in the annals of sports history by securing their first and only World Cup title with a win over Pakistan in the final. The momentous day came just two years after the heartbreak of the 1973 final, when India suffered a devastating loss. The team led by Ajit Pal Singh rose to the occasion in the final held at the Merdeka Football Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. The match was a closely contested affair, with Pakistan taking an early lead through Muhammad Zaid Sheikh. Surjit Singh scored the equalizer for India. The decisive goal came when Ashok Kumar, the son of the legendary Dhyan Chand, found the back of the net, securing a thrilling 2-1 victory.
1975 WORLD CUP HOCKEY FINAL
3. Asian Games 2014 final: The Indian team emerged victorious, securing the gold medal after a 16-year hiatus. In a thrilling showdown, India displayed unwavering determination as they triumphed over their archrivals with a score of 4-2 in a nail-biting shoot-out. Before that, India last became Asian Games champions in 1998. The closely contested battle saw the teams locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
4. Champions Trophy 2007: Regarded as one of the best India-Pakistan encounters in the sport, India staged a remarkable comeback to secure a 7-4 victory, scoring five goals in the final 19 minutes of the game, resulting in a triumph that remains fresh in the memory of hockey fans. India’s goal-scorers were Jugraj Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh, while Pakistan’s goals came from Rehan Butt, Nadeem Ahmed, Mudassar Ali, and Sohail Abbas. The game marked the first instance where India managed to score seven goals against Pakistan.
5. Champions Trophy 2014 semifinal: India missed a chance to take the game to a shootout, losing 3-4 in a tense semifinal. Pakistan’s Muhammad Arslan Qadir scored the winning goal just one minute before the end of the match, which led to maddening scenes in Bhubaneswar. The post-match celebrations by the Pakistani players sparked controversy as some of them removed their shirts and made indecent and obscene gestures towards the crowd and Indian media. This incident further strained relations between the two nations. Pakistan’s other goals were scored by Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Irfan, while India’s goals came from Gurjinder Singh, Dharamvir Singh, and Nikkin Thimmaiah.