India face Pakistan in a match that they have to win or draw to go through to the next round of the 2026 Hockey World Cup. However, the fact remains that anything less than a win for India will be a huge upset as Pakistan have not managed to beat them for 10 years now. Moreover, an unlikely defeat for India, apart from being arguably the biggest upset of the tournament and one that could have far reaching implications for Indian hockey, will allow Pakistan to jump above them in the Pool D cable and thus go through to the second round.
Pakistan are still the most succesfull team in the history of the World Cup, having won it five times. They have suffered a spectacular fall from grace this century but just how dominant they used to be against India is shown in the fact that despite Pakistan not winning this fixture for a decade now, they lead the historic head-to-head 84 wins to India’s 73, with 28 draws.
India won their first match of this tournament 3-1 against Wales. Then came a bruising 4-2 defeat to England, a result that could have far-reaching implications for their semifinal chances even if they beat Pakistan today and go through to the next round.
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The last time Pakistan beat India in a hockey match was back in 2016 but the drought is even longer in the Hockye World Cup. The last time Pakistan won this fixture in this tournament was all the way back in the 1986 World Cup in London.
India: Abhishek, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (c), Sumit, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Suraj Karkera (gk), Rajinder Singh
Pakistan: Muhammad Abdullah, Sufyan Khan, Moin Shakeel, Hannan Shahid, Zikriya Hayat, Arshad Liaqat, Ammad Butt, Abdul Rehman, Umar Mustafa, Abu Mahmood (c), Ali Raza (gk)
India vs Pakistan matches are not what they used to be in this sport... but it is India vs Pakistan nonetheless. Moreover, India NEED to win this (or draw it). Rarely have they actually faced Pakistan in a tournament with some amount of pressure riding on the match in the recent past, let alone a tournament in which they don't have a good record and are desperate to turn it around. It will be interesting to see if India can quickly rise above these factors.
Last Saturday, play in the middle of a World Cup match had to be stopped because Pakistan’s players had forgotten their kitbag, which contained protective gear, in the changing room. A few months earlier, during the Pro League tour in Australia, they were scrambling for money to pay for their hotel stay.
In another era, both incidents would have been unthinkable.
Pakistan were once hockey’s trendsetters. They won four World Cups, three Olympic gold medals and produced artists who changed how the game was played. They weren’t merely India’s greatest rivals; for long periods, the Green Shirts were India’s tormentors. READ MORE
