The 2004 Indo-Pak series was the 7th series of bilateral field hockey matches between Pakistan and India. The series was played over eight matches on home and away basis.
Each side hosted four matches from 24 September 2004 to 10 October 2004. Pakistan won the series 4–2. This was the first time both sides were coached by foreign coaches in a bilateral series with Gerhard Roch of Germany coaching India and Roelant Oltmans of Netherlands coaching for Pakistan. During the match in Amritsar, Pakistan's Sohail Abbas broke the record for most goals in international men's hockey scoring his 268th goal surpassing Paul Litjens of Netherlands who held the record for 22 years.
Background Prior to the start of the series Pakistan and India had faced each other 6 times since January 2004. They first met at the 2004 Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur with Pakistan winning 3–2. They met twice in the 2004 Olympic Qualifiers in Madrid with Pakistan winning both matches. In June Pakistan again defeated India twice this time by a huge margin of 6–1 at the Hockey RaboTrophy in Amsterdam. Both teams had a disappointing campaign at the Olympics in Athens Pakistan defeated India in the crossover rounds to finish 5th while India finished 7th.
Sohail Abbas scored 12 goals against India in these matches including two hat-tricks. This series was also in the lead up to the 2004 Champions Trophy to be held in Lahore from December.
Venues MatchLocationStadium NameDateFirstKarachi, PakistanHockey Club of Pakistan24 SeptemberSecondQuetta, PakistanMusa Khan Stadium27 SeptemberThirdPeshawar, PakistanLala Ayub Hockey Stadium29 SeptemberFourthLahore, PakistanNational Hockey Stadium1 OctoberFifthDelhi, IndiaMajor Dhyan Chand National Stadium4 OctoberSixthChandigarh, IndiaSector 42 Hockey Stadium6 OctoberSeventhAmritsar, IndiaGuru Nank Dev University Stadium8 OctoberEighthHyderabad, IndiaGachibowli Hockey Stadium10 October
Squads India announced an 18-member squad on 20 September 2004. The Indian selection ignored veterans like Dhanraj Pillay, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Deepak Thakur and Gagan Ajit Singh, who all were part of the team at the Athens Olympics after the players made themselves unavailable for selection for different reasons. Pakistan announced its squad on 20 September as well. Waseem Ahmed was made captain after former captain Muhammad Nadeem announced his retirement from international hockey after the last month's Olympics. Pakistan India Waseem Ahmed (C) Salman Akbar (GK) Nasir Ahmed Sohail Abbas Zeeshan Ashraf Muhammad Imran Imran Warsi Ghazanfar Ali Adnan Maqsood Dilawar Hussain Abdul Aasim Khan Imran Khan Rehan Butt Mudassar Ali Khan Kashif Jawad Shakeel Abbasi Adnan Zakir Tariq Aziz Shabbir Hussain Akhtar Ali Dilip Tirkey (C) Devesh Chauhan (GK) Adrian D'Souza (GK) Harpal Singh Sandeep Singh William Xalxo Viren Rasquinha Vikram Pillay Girish Pimpale Ignace Tirkey V. S. Vinay Prabodh Tirkey Vivek Gupta Adam Sinclair Arjun Halappa Sandeep Michael Tushar Khandekar Hari Prasad Coach Roelant OltmansCoach Gerhard Roch
Results
Pakistan won the series 4-2
+First LegMatchDateScoreLocation124 SeptemberPakistan 2-1 IndiaKarachi227 SeptemberPakistan 1-4 IndiaQuetta329 SeptemberPakistan 3-2 IndiaPeshawar41 OctoberPakistan 4-4 IndiaLahore +Second LegMatchDateScoreLocation14 OctoberIndia 1-3 PakistanDelhi26 OctoberIndia 1-1 PakistanChandigarh38 OctoberIndia 1-2 PakistanAmritsar410 OctoberIndia 2-0 PakistanHyderabad
Matches
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4
Game 5
Game 6
Game 7
Game 8
Statistics +TeamPWDLGFGAGD Pakistan842216160 India822416160
Goalscorers There were 32 goals scored in 8 matches for an average of 4 goals per match
References