The Indian hockey team beat Pakistan 7-1 in its penultimate match of the FIH Pro League 2025-26 season at the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre in London on Friday.
India, eighth in the hockey rankings, rode on goals from seven different scorers – Sukhjeet Singh (20’), captain Harmanpreet Singh (26’), Hardik Singh (34’), Jugraj Singh (35’), Abhishek (41’), Raj Kumar Pal (44’) and Dilpreet Singh (54’) – to sail to a comprehensive victory.
World No. 12 Pakistan had drawn first blood through skipper Abu Bakar Mahmood (13’).
The win saw India climb to seventh in the FIH Hockey Pro League standings with 17 points from 15 matches. Pakistan are yet to open their account after as many games and are placed dead last, destined for relegation to the FIH Nations Cup next season.
India, who had beaten their arch-rivals 4-3 in their first-ever FIH Pro League meeting back on Tuesday, started the game well and won three early penalty corners but could not make the most of these.
Pakistan, just like they did in Tuesday’s match, took the lead against the run of play as Abu Bakar Mahmood converted from his team’s first penalty corner of the match towards the end of the opening quarter.
Ahmed Nadeem, who scored Pakistan’s opener in Tuesday’s match, had to leave the field of play on a wheelchair after suffering a blow to his face.
The Indian hockey team drew level a couple of minutes later as Sukhjeet Singh deftly deflected in captain Harmanpreet Singh’s penalty corner.
Minutes later, the Indian skipper directly planted another penalty corner into the bottom corner to make it 2-1 heading into the half-time break.
Hardik Singh doubled India’s lead shortly after the restart, calmly converting from a penalty stroke, awarded after Sanjay’s deflected shot hit a Pakistani defender inside the danger zone. The goal opened the floodgates.
The celebrations had barely died off before Jugraj Singh made it 4-1 following a lightning-fast counter after a Pakistani penalty corner was thwarted at the other end.
Abhishek, with a brilliant reverse stick finish, and Raj Kumar Pal’s tap-in from Harmanpreet’s drag flick saw India go 6-1 before the third quarter ended.
Dilpreet Singh scored in the final period to cap off a 7-1 scoreline for India, who are unbeaten against Pakistan in international hockey since 2016.
The India vs Pakistan head-to-head record, however, still has the latter leading 82-69.
India will conclude their FIH Pro League 2025-26 campaign with a match against England on Sunday.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/fih-pro-league-2025-26-india-vs-pakistan-match-2-report
