By Shahid Khan.
Pakistan made a winning start in the Hockey World Cup Qualifying Round, defeating Bangladesh by a whopping 8–2.
It was the first of the three play-off matches at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium, Dhaka which were initiated by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) after Pakistan could not travel to India for the Asia Cup in August-September due to strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries.
Although Greenshirts captain Ahmad Butt gave the visitors an early lead as he converted a penalty stroke in the 4th minute, the hosts were able to hit back through an excellent reverse stick strike by Huzaifa Hossain for the equaliser.
Pakistan relying mainly on their opponents’ defensive errors were able to dominate the next two quarters scoring two and three goals respectively without any reply to leave the scoreline 6-1 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Nadeem and Afraz scored in open play before Ali Ganzafar, Waheed Ashraf, Hannan Shahid added one each. With four minutes remaining of the match, Nadeem grabbed his second goal to show 8-1 scoreline before Amirul Islam converted a penalty corner for the consolation for the hosts.
A record four times World Cup champions Pakistan ranked presently 14th in world ranking while buoyed with margin of victory will be concerned with their lack of penalty corner conversions. Remarkably both teams forced 5 penalty corners each.
The next match of the series will be on Friday with the final encounter of Sunday. The winners of the series will progress to the qualifying tournament in February/ March next year. The World Cup is scheduled for August 2026 in Belgium and Amsterdam.
Fieldhockey.com exclusive.