India and Pakistan’s hockey clash at Gold Coast saw a dramatic ending. (AP)
Pakistan held India to a 2-2 draw after the latter fumbled a two-goal cushion and conceded in the last play of the game in the Men’s Hockey opening game of Pool B. In what appeared to be a scene straight from some high-octane sports drama, Pakistan went on to score in the very last second after the men in green were awarded a controversial penalty corner. Ali Mubashar slammed the ball into the nets low and hard, and Indian goalkeeper P Sreejesh, who was in terrific form, could not dive to his right in time to make the save.
With 7 seconds to go, Pakistan received a penalty corner which was saved by Sreejesh. But the side appealed for a review, claiming there was a foot involved from an Indian defender. Even though the replays could not verify the claim, the decision was given in Pakistan’s favour by the referee, and they made the most of the decision.
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The referee’s decision received massive flak from the Twitterati.
Hockey India seem to have done enough to see the danger off, to be honest.But then the video umpire has to agree… http://t.co/mSbBhApzlG
— Debayan Sen (@debayansen) 7 April 2018
Sjoerd Marijne was livid at the ref, walked straight up to him after the hooter buzzed. Wonder what he feels about the performance, though. Not even a shot on goal in the second half #INDvPAK #GC2018 #gc2018hockey
— Mihir Vasavda (@mihirsv) 7 April 2018
#INDvPAK was the umpire watching the same footage as us. #feelingcheated. #hockeyindia should protest. Appalling decision making.
— Utkarsh Bisen (@Bucephalus90) 7 April 2018
India must appeal against the biased and wrong Umpiring at last moment…
There wasn’t any leg contact…. Protest must be Lodged for today’s match of #INDvPAK #GC2018Hockey #GC2018 #CWG2018— RAVI (@rvijha) 7 April 2018
In hockey #india played dismally in d last 2 quarters. That being said the referral on d leg ball was artrocious.D video referee was seeing something mere mortals like us wasn’t seeing! Pathetic. A gr8 result for #Pakistan nevertheless. #IndvsPak
— Sangeeth Sivan (@sangeethsivan) 7 April 2018
@FIH_Hockey India Pak match the last penalty quarter was cheating. There was no foot.
— Sharad Malik (@sharadsachiel1) 7 April 2018
India started the game in spectacular fashion as they raced away to a two-goal lead before halftime. The first goal saw Dilpreet Singh hammer the ball into the nets after receiving a pass from SV Sunil. Harmanpreet Singh doubled India’s lead in the second quarter after converting a penalty corner. Pakistan found a way to come back into the match in the third quarter, with Muhammad Irfan Jr finding the back of the net.