The opponents took the lead on the 38th minute of the game from a curling freekick courtesy of the as if they lacked direction Pakistani captain Kaleemullah. India looked as if they lacked focus as well as direction in attack and in defence. The neighbours maintained the lead despite increasing pressure by the Indian team in the second half.
An improved second half performance saw, the hosts having a couple of shots on goal. But the game was put to bed when Pakistan scored again in the 90th minute, even a draw looking out of site, with just a couple of minutes left on the clock.
Both sides were able to win a match each in the two game Indo-Pak friendly Series held at Bangalore Stadium. It was a good preparatory test for the young Indian side, which look to go as further as possible in the upcoming Asia Cup series.
LINE-UPS
India U-23
16 Amrinder Singh – 2 Pritam Kotal, 29 Joyner Lourenco, 4 Sandesh Jhingan, 5 Narayan Das – 7 Milan Singh (77? 12 Dhanpal Ganesh), 20 Lalrindika Ralte (46? 6 Siam Hangal) – 10 Francis Fernandes (47? 18 Seiminlen Doungel) – 11 Sunil Chhetri [C], 30 Mandar Rao Desai (69? Clifton Dias) – 19 Haokip Thonhkosiem
Unused Subs
8 Alwyn George, 13 Salam Rajan Singh, 14 Rowlin Borges, 21 Pronoy Halder, 23 Shankar Sampingiraj, Ravi Kumar, Kamaljit Singh, Keenan Almeida, Alesh Sawant
Pakistan U-23
22 Muzammil Hussain – 23 Faisal Iqbal (14? 15 Mohsin Ali), 26 Mansoor Khan (78? 12 Mohammad Zeeshan), 3 Mohammad Ahmed, 4 Mohammad Bilal – 17 Saddam Hussain, 8 Mehmood Khan (77? 16 Mohammad Salman), 13 Ahsanullah, 7 Bilawal ur Rehman (26? 14 Sher Mohammad Baloch), 11 Sher Ali (47? 6 Mohammad Riaz) – 10 Kaleemullah [C]
Unused Subs
1 Saqib Hanif, 5 Naveed Ahmed, 9 Abdul Salam, Mohammad Sohail, Amjad Hussain, Ehsanullah, Mohammad Adil