For a rivalry that once decided world titles, the outcome has long since ceased to be in doubt. But that did not make the result any less satisfying for India, who beat Pakistan 5-3 in Amstelveen on Wednesday to book their place in the second round of the Hockey World Cup.
It was a victory India needed, and a victory they earned. The 4-2 defeat to England two days earlier had left them with no margin for error, and Pakistan, whatever their recent struggles against their neighbours, still carry the weight of a rivalry that turns every meeting into something more than a pool match. India did not flinch. They scored early, scored often, and held off a late wobble to keep their campaign alive.
The result extended India’s decade long unbeaten run over Pakistan, a sequence that now stretches to 20 completed matches without defeat. Pakistan have not beaten India since the 2016 Champions Trophy, and on the evidence of this performance, that drought will not be ending any time soon.
Harmanpreet leads from the front
The tone was set inside five minutes. India earned a string of early penalty corners, and captain Harmanpreet Singh, as he so often does, converted the second of them with a ferocious drag flick that hit the backboard before Pakistan’s defence had time to react. It was the kind of start India had been hoping for, and it settled the nerves that might otherwise have crept in.
Harmanpreet was at the heart of everything India did well. His second goal, in the 21st minute, was another penalty corner conversion, and it came at a moment when Pakistan had just begun to believe they might be in the contest. The captain’s ability to deliver in the biggest moments has long been his defining quality, and he delivered again when it mattered.
By the time he was done, Harmanpreet had two goals, a hand in several more, and the small satisfaction of having once again reminded Pakistan why this rivalry, for all its history, has been so one sided of late.
Abhishek’s brilliance
If Harmanpreet provided the power, Abhishek provided the class. The forward scored two superb field goals, the second of them the pick of the match.
His first, in the 11th minute, came from superb control to collect an aerial pass before his shot took a deflection and found the net. The second, in the 24th minute, was something else entirely. Abhishek received the ball inside the striking circle, dribbled past a cluster of Pakistani defenders with close control and 3D skills, and finished with a deflection that left the goalkeeper with no chance.
It was the kind of goal that makes a highlight reel, and it put India 4-1 up and effectively beyond reach. Pakistan would claw the deficit back to 4-2 by half time, and later to 5-3, but Abhishek’s brilliance had given India a cushion they never looked like surrendering.
Hardik Singh added India’s fifth from a penalty stroke in the third quarter, and while Pakistan’s Hannan Shahid and Sufyan Khan scored their three between them, the outcome was never truly in question.
A rivalry defined by the recent past
It is worth pausing on what this fixture has become, because the history of it matters as much as the result.
India and Pakistan have played 185 times, and Pakistan still lead the overall head to head, having won more of those meetings. But the last decade has belonged emphatically to India. Since Pakistan’s last win in 2016, the two sides have met 19 times in completed matches, and India have won 17 of them, with two draws. It is a dominance that would have been unthinkable in the days when the fixture genuinely did decide world titles.
The weight of that history hung over Wednesday’s match, even if the outcome felt, by the end, routine. Pakistan attacked with a freedom that bordered on recklessness, and their unforced errors in key moments cost them dearly. The gulf in class between the two sides, once razor thin, has become a chasm.
What the win means
The victory carried enormous practical significance. India needed to beat Pakistan to be certain of qualification, and they did exactly that, finishing second in Pool D with six points, behind an England side that won all three of their matches.
The reward is a place in the second round and a shot at the semifinals, which has been India’s stated ambition since they arrived in the Netherlands. The next challenge is formidable, with a meeting against the Netherlands themselves looming, but India will travel with belief.
For Pakistan, the defeat ends their tournament. They arrived as one of the sport’s storied names, playing in their first World Cup in eight years, and they leave having won none of their three matches. The decline that has seen them fall from the summit of the game shows no sign of reversing.
The bigger picture for Indian hockey
India’s victory over Pakistan keeps alive the dream of a first World Cup title since 1975, a wait that has now stretched beyond half a century. The team arrived in the Netherlands with genuine belief, and while the defeat to England was a setback, the response against Pakistan was everything the coaching staff would have wanted.
Craig Fulton’s side are not the finished article. The defensive lapses that cost them against England were present again on Wednesday, and a better side than Pakistan would have punished them more severely. But the attacking quality, embodied by Harmanpreet and Abhishek, is real, and it gives India a chance against anyone.
The road ahead is hard. But for a team that has spent decades chasing a trophy that keeps slipping from their grasp, simply being alive in the tournament, with the quarterfinals within reach, is a position to savour.
India beat Pakistan, qualified for the next round, and kept the dream alive. It is not yet history. But it is a step toward it, and after Wednesday, the step feels firmer than it has in years.