Development squads series: Pakistan beat Canada in warm up match

KARACHI: Pakistan Development Squad beat Canada Development Squad by 2-1 in a warm-up match on Wednesday, according to reports received here on Thursday.

Rizwan Ali and Rana Waheed scored in for the winners. Pakistan Development Squad will play five test matches in Canada, four against the hosts and one against China.

Meanwhile, Pakistan senior team’s practice matches before the Champions Trophy have completed and the team management has sent back four players. Pakistan play against India on June 23. In their last encounter, at Commonwealth Games, Pakistan managed to hold their archrivals to a 2-2 draw, ending their long dominance.

Pakistan have shown considerable improvement since the appointment of coach Roelant Oltmans. Although the Green-shirts failed to reach the knockout stage, they remained undefeated and claimed the fifth position when they beat Canada.

An official said that during the practice matches, Arsalan Qadir emerged as a strong forward line player and Aleem Bilal executed penalty corners well. But the other forwards need to raise their game, he added. The performance of goalkeeper Imran Butt and defenders had also improved due to which Pakistan did not concede many goals. Netherlands, a top-ranked team, only managed a 2-1 win over Pakistan. And Pakistan defeated Austria 2-0 in their three-match series. “If we beat India, it would be like a tonic for us and mentally we would be strengthened for the coming matches,” he added.