India continued their unbeaten run in the men's Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament with a 1-1 draw against archrivals Pakistan in their third Pool A match. Shardanand Tiwari gave India the lead in the 24th minute of the match played on Saturday night, but Basharat Ali also scored an equal goal for Pakistan in the 44th minute. With this match being a draw week, India now has seven points from three matches and is second in Pool A. Pakistan also has seven points but is in first place due to better goal difference. Japan remain in third place with six points from three matches. He also defeated Chinese Taipei 10-1 on Saturday. India had earlier beaten Chinese Taipei 18-0 and Japan 3-1.
In the match against Pakistan, India has kept its opposition under pressure by adopting an aggressive attitude from the beginning. India initially got two penalty corners but could not take advantage of them. On the other hand, Pakistan also created some chances and reached the position of scoring a penalty corner but Indian goalkeeper Amandeep Lakra foiled his attempt by making a great defense. After the first quarter went goalless, Shardanand converted a penalty corner in the second quarter to give India a significant lead.
After which the Indian team started playing with more confidence and made a continuous dent in the Pakistani defense but failed to score goals. The Pakistan team looked desperate to score a goal after changing the ends and made some good moves. This benefited him and Basharat has equalized the score by scoring a field goal. The Indian team played more aggressively in the fourth quarter while Pakistan also retaliated. Both teams came close to scoring on a few occasions but in the end the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The Indian team is going to face Thailand in their final match of Pool A.
'IT cell people are spreading fake pictures...', Bajrang Punia tweeted on the photo
India defeated Thailand 17-0 to enter to the Jr. Asia Cup semifinals