"Most Difficult India-Pakistan Match": Mandeep Singh After Asian Games Hockey Thriller

India advanced to the Asian Games men's hockey summit clash after defeating arch-rivals Pakistan 4-3 in a thrilling semi-final at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium on Thursday. India captain Harmanpreet Singh opened the scoring in the fifth minute and doubled the side's lead with his second goal in the 13th minute. Sukhjeet Singh extended India's advantage to 3-0 in the 23rd minute, putting the team in a commanding position. However, Pakistan staged a remarkable comeback in the second half, with Abu Mahmood, Hannan Shahid and Waheed Rana scoring one goal each to level the score at 3-3 by the 49th minute.

With the match heading towards a tense finish, Abhishek scored the decisive goal in the 60th minute to secure India's place in the gold-medal match.

India will face China in the final.

After the semi-final game, India's striker Mandeep Singh talked to NDTV in an exclusive interview. Here are the excerpts:

Q: Mandeep, this was your 300th international match. Many, many congratulations. You've played a lot of India-Pakistan matches, so where would you rank this India-Pakistan match?

Mandeep Singh: First of all, thank you so much, ma'am. Earning 300 caps for the country is a huge achievement. I would like to thank my coaching staff, teammates, family, friends and hockey lovers. If you look at this match, it was probably the most difficult India-Pakistan match I have played in my career.

Q: Really? You've played 300 matches, and this felt like the most difficult one?

Mandeep Singh: Yes. We had a similar experience in Germany against Great Britain when Amit received a card and we had to play with nine players. But in this match, we were playing really good hockey. What happened was that in the third and fourth quarters, we became a bit lazy. That's why we conceded those goals. For the upcoming final, the focus will be on how we play all 60 minutes and stay prepared throughout.

Q: I'll ask one last question. Pakistan had a very young team. Do you think India's experience helped you win today?

Mandeep Singh: No. Whether a team is young or experienced doesn't matter much. They also have senior players who have been playing alongside us for nearly 10 years. It was a good fight and a good match because everyone enjoys an India-Pakistan contest. It's exciting to watch. Our goal is to ensure that the small mistakes we made today aren't repeated in the upcoming matches.

Q: Now that you've reached the gold-medal match, what will you do differently?

Mandeep Singh: Definitely, we need to stay switched on from the first whistle to the final whistle. That's the main thing. For all four quarters, we need to maintain complete focus.

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