Sultan Azlan Shah Cup - Preview: Rusty India face weakened Pakistan in search of bronze
Although it is not as celebrated as the cricketing version, the rivalry between the countries will once again take the centre stage on Tuesday, when India and Pakistan clash in the 2016 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at Ipoh, Malaysia.
India, ranked seventh in the world, arrived in Malaysia with a young squad giving rest to their stars like P R Sreejesh and V R Raghunath with the Olympics just five months away. Playing a tournament after a gap of almost five months showed in the initial match as India scraped past Japan 2-1. The
The five-time winners, who finished with a bronze in the last edition of the tournament, have a chance of repeating the same feat once
On the other hand, Pakistan
But, as it is with India-Pakistan encounters, everything else takes a back seat when the two arch-rivals play. The last time the two teams met was in the 2016 South Asian Games, where Pakistan won gold defeating a second-string Indian team, first in the group stage and then in the final. An encounter between the two in an FIH event came a year back in the 2014-15 HWL Semi-Finals at Antwerp, where both sides shared points after playing out a 2-2 draw.
Pakistan also
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