From 2-4 down to winning 7-4! A comeback for the ages in India vs Pakistan hockey history

"I don't think that kind of match happened again." These were the words of Dhanraj Pillay when a chat in 2020 around the India-Pakistan rivalry took him back to Amstelveen in 2003. Maybe, if allowed to pick from among India's most famous wins since the turn of the century against any nation, the former captain will now surely go with the bronze medal win at Tokyo Olympics instead of that Champions trophy match 21 summers ago.
Down 2-4 in the good old 70-minute match against a team that had Rehan Butt flying down the flanks and Sohail Abbas shooting rockets off his flicks, India staged a comeback for the ages in 23 minutes of magic.
The backstory for Pillay personally had a narrative of revenge from a year ago, when the Pakistan players celebrated in India captain's face following their 4-3 win in the third-place match in the previous edition of the Champions Trophy.
To see his team scoring five goals in 23 minutes a year later to come back from the dead and win made the revenge for Pillay a lot sweeter.
The heroes of the day for India were Jugarj Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh and Deepak Thakur, who scored two goals each. But it was Pakistan who took a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes with Butt and Muhammad Nadeem scoring. Jugraj scored India's first goal through a penalty corner four minutes later, but Mudassar Ali restored the two-goal cushion for Pakistan by making it 3-1.
(Screen Grab: FIH)
India got another penalty corner just before half-time, and Jugraj once again cut Pakistan's lead to one goal with his second strike.
The teams went in at half-time with Pakistan leading 3-2.
Drag-flick legend Sohail Abbas got on the scoresheet in the 42nd minute by finding the net on a penalty corner to make it 4-2.
With 28 minutes left on the clock, India needed a goal to stay in the match and put pressure back on Pakistan. They found not just one but five goals.
Indian forwards, Gagan in the centre, Thakur on the left and Prabhjot on the right, attacked the Pakistan goal like birds swooping on its prey.
In a passage of four minutes between the 50th and the 54th, Thakur and Prabhjot scored to make it 4-4. The comeback stunned Pakistan who had no answer to India's full-press.
Six minutes later, between the 60th and 65th, the trio of Indian strikers took life out of Pakistan defence that had no answer to their speed and Pillay's brilliant feeding from the centre.
The legend let the young Indian stars take centrestage, and they didn't disappoint.
Gagan scored two goals in the 60th and 62nd minute to make it 6-4 and Thakur sealed it at 7-4 in the 65th, as all Pakistan efforts of a comeback in the last five minutes were thwarted by India.
The match stands as one of the most epic comebacks ever scripted in India vs Pakistan hockey history.