Champions Trophy Hockey: Pakistan pay dearly after removing goalkeeper vs India

Ramandeep Singh opened the scoring for India against Pakistan. (Hockey India)

India thrashed Pakistan on Friday to get their Champions Trophy campaign off and running at Breda in The Netherlands on Saturday.

While Team India registered a comprehensive 4-0, the last two goals were scored after Pakistan withdrew their goalkeeper Imran Butt.

Trailing 2-0, Pakistan were forced to withdraw its goalie for an extra player with four minutes left on the clock as they hoped to turn things around. The move, however, backfired as Indian pumped in two more goals in an open net in a span of three minutes to register the convincing win.

While Pakistan didn't have many options apart from trying out their luck, the move allowed Indian to register a comprehensive win against their arch-rivals.

The win also provided India the perfect start who came into the tournament on the back of a disastrous Commonwealth Games campaign at the Gold Coast, where they finished a disappointing fourth.

The victory also marked a positive start to India's chief coach Harendra Singh's fourth stint with the senior national side. Harendra took over the reigns of the team after swapping roles with Sjoerd Marijne, following India's dreadful CWG campaign.

Ramandeep Singh opened the scoring for India after gracefully guiding Simranjeet Singh's sideways shot into the goal in the 25th minute. Dilpreet Singh scored his first goal after a meandering run in the 54th minute of the match.

Mandeep Singh scored the third after just three minutes as Lalit Upadhyay finished all hopes for Pakistan comeback when he scored from a sublime Ramandeep pass.

FT| The Indian Men's Team show supreme composure to defeat Pakistan by a resounding 4-0 margin in their first game of the Rabobank Men's Hockey Champion Trophy 2018 on 23rd June 2018, featuring immense fortitude in attack and defense.#IndiaKaGame #INDvPAK #HCT2018 pic.twitter.com/U8V0N5BQRl

Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 23, 2018

India, eyeing its maiden Champions Trophy title, will play reigning Olympic champions Argentina in their next round-robin league match tomorrow.

The Indians looked a compact side in all departments of the game with the strikers utilising the opportunities that came their way while the defence came up with a superlative show during the entire 60 minutes to keep Pakistani forwards at bay.

The dominating victory also can be looked upon as a sweet revenge for India after Pakistan, which is being coached by former India coach and High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, scored a late equaliser to eke out a 1-1 draw in Gold Coast.

The Indians started positively and applied pressure on the Pakistani defence from the word go and in the process secured a penalty corner in the 13th minute but Harmanpreet's attempt was saved by goalkeeper Imran Butt.

India got another set piece soon after the start of second quarter but once again wasted the chance.