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Pak beat Ind, sweep first leg 3-0
Published on Mon, Feb 20, 2006 at 18:26, Updated on Mon, Feb 20, 2006 at 23:21 in 
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Jalandhar: Pakistan inflicted a 2-1 defeat on a struggling Indian side to make a clean sweep of the Indian leg of the six-Test hockey series at the Surjit Singh Stadium on Monday.
Riding high after victories in the first two matches, Pakistan ensured India remained on the mat with another fluent win against the hosts, who need to regroup urgently if they are to make a match of the contest.
In the most dreary match of the series so far, all the goals were scored in the first half.
Tariq Aziz (12th minute) and Mohammed Saqlain (31st) netted the goals for the visitors while Tejbir Singh shot home (27th) for the hosts.
Thanks to the lacklustre performance by the Indians, Pakistan registered the comfortable win despite not playing to their potential.
The initial part of the match was more or less a slow-paced affair.
But Pakistan went 1-0 up in the 12th minute as Tariq Aziz struck the goal after getting a good ball from the right.
There was no one to thwart his shot and the Pak striker hiked his goal tally to three in the series.
The match picked up some pace after the first goal. The Indians tried to score the equaliser by bringing in the experienced but a half-fit Vikram Pillay.
Pillay immediately carved out some good moves to feed the Indian attackers but they could not utilise the opportunities.
However, India managed to level in the 27th minute as Rajpal Singh hit a precise cross from the right to Tejbir Singh, who was waiting inside the D.
Tejbir deflected it into the goal in style to make it 1-1.
In between, tension prevailed on the field for a brief while after Mohammed Zubair's effort was neutralised by the Indian defence.
Shakeel Abassi, through his skilful play, attempted to help Pakistan gain the lead and his efforts paid off in the 31st minute when his shot bounced inside the Indian D and an alert Pakistan captain Mohammed Saqlain netted it to make it 2-1.
In the second half, both the teams attacked with more urgency. But while the Pakistanis were able to garner as many as six penalty corners, the Indians could not get even one.
The home team's attack was pathetic with the forward line failing to convert chances successfully. Tushar Khandekar was especially guilty of some costly misses.
On the defence too, the hosts did not do well. In the absence of an injured Harpal Singh, they did not field William Xalxo, who came as a replacement for Dilip Tirkey, for most part of the match.
Goalkeeper Bharat Chetri again made some good saves with his sensible approach and good anticipation. However, he was not well backed by the first line of defence.
The Indians, who have lost four matches in a row to the arch-rivals in the last three months, will cross over to Pakistan on Tuesday to play the remaining three matches of the series in that country.
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