# 2006 India-Pakistan field hockey test series

The 2006 Indo-Pak series (known as the Airtel Trophy for sponsorship reasons) was the 8th series of bilateral field hockey matches between Pakistan and India.
The six match series was played over two legs on home and away basis with three matches hosted in each country from 17 February to 2006 to 26 February 2006. Pakistan won the series 3–1. Pakistan won their fourth consecutive and overall sixth series against India. This was the first time India did not lose the away leg of the series and remained unbeaten in Pakistan.

## Background

Prior to the start of the series Pakistan had won five out of seven bilateral series where as India won one and one was drawn. The two teams had met in December last year earlier in Chennai at the 2005 Champions Trophy with India winning 2–3. Both teams participated in a 4-Nations tournament in Netherlands month before that but did not face each other Pakistan won the tournament defeating Australia 4–3 in the final.

## Venues

| Match | Location | Venue | Date |
| First | Chandigarh, India | Sector 42 Hockey Stadium | 17 February |
| Second | Chandigarh, India | Sector 42 Hockey Stadium | 18 February |
| Third | Jalandhar, India | Surjit Singh Stadium | 20 February |
| Fourth | Lahore, Pakistan | National Hockey Stadium | 22 February |
| Fifth | Faisalabad, Pakistan | Faisalabad Hockey Stadium | 24 February |
| Sixth | Rawalpindi, Pakistan | Army Hockey Stadium | 26 February |

## Squads

India announced its squad on 2 February 2006. India named a rather young squad leaving out many veteran players like Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, captain Dileep Tirkey, Viren Rasquinha and Prabhjot Singh. The Pakistan squad was announced on 8 February 2006. The team was announced by Chief Selector Akhtar Rasool after the two days trials in Islamabad. Muhmmad Saqlain was named as captain despite his ill disciplinary record recently.
| India | Pakistan |
| Bharat Kumar Chetri Adrian D'Souza Kanwalpreet Singh Harpal Singh V. R. Raghunath V. S. Vinaya Vikram Pillay Ignace Tirkey (C) Prabodh Tirkey Sandeep Singh Rajpal Singh Deedar Singh Sardara Singh Tushar Khandker Tijbir Singh Arjun Halappa Adam Sinclair Shivendra Singh Hari Prasad | Muhammad Saqlain (C) Salman Akbar Nasir Ahmed Zeeshan Ashraf Muhammad Imran Imran Warsi Imran Khan Dilawar Bhatti Adnan Maqsood Sajjad Anwar Rehan Butt Mudassar Ali Khan Shakeel Abbasi Tariq Aziz Shabbir Hussain Adnan Zakir Mudassar Khan Waqas Sharif Shabbir Khan Muhmmad Zubair |
| Coach Rajinder Singh Jr. | Coach Asif Bajwa |

## Results

* Pakistan won the series 3–1.
First leg :
| Match | Date | Score | Location |
| 1 | 17 February | India 1–2 Pakistan | Chandigarh |
| 2 | 18 February | India 1–3 Pakistan | Chandigarh |
| 3 | 20 February | India 1–2 Pakistan | Jalandhar |
Second leg :
| Match | Date | Score | Location |
| 1 | 22 February | Pakistan 1–1 India | Lahore |
| 2 | 24 February | Pakistan 1–2 India | Faisalabad |
| 3 | 26 February | Pakistan 3–3 India | Rawalpindi |

## Matches
### First leg

Match 1
* 17 February 2006
| | 1–2 | |
| Khandekar 62' | Report | Aziz 15' Abbasi 56' |
* Sector 42 Hockey Stadium, Chandigarh
Match 2
* 18 February 2006
| | 1–3 | |
| Sandeep 44' | Report | Butt 41', 68' Aziz 59' |
* Sector 42 Hockey Stadium, Chandigarh
Match 3
* 20 February 2006
| | 1–2 | |
| Tajbir 26' | Report | Aziz 16' Saqlain 30' |
* Surjit Hockey Stadium, Jalandhar

### Second leg

Match 1
* 22 February 2006
| | 1–1 | |
| Imran 16' | Report | Tajbir 65' |
* National Hockey Stadium, Lahore
Match 2
* 24 February 2006
| | 1–2 | |
| Warsi 28' | Report | Rajpal 53' Kanwalpreet 56' |
* Faisalabad Hockey Stadium, Faisalabad
Match 3
* 26 February 2006
| | 3–3 | |
| Aziz 4' Saqlain 11' Shabbir 44' | Report | Sandeep 54' Tajbir 60' Pillay 67' |
* Army Hockey Stadium, Rawalpindi

## Statistics

| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| Pakistan | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 9 | +3 |
| India | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 |

### Goalscorers

There were 21 goals scored in 6 matches for an average of 3.5 goals per match.
4 goals
* Tariq Aziz
3 goals
* Tajbir Singh
2 goals
* Rehan Butt
* Muhammad Saqlain
* Sandeep Singh
1 goal
* Shakeel Abbasi
* Tushar Khandekar
* Muhammad Imran
* Rajpal Singh
* Kanwalpreet Singh
* Imran Warsi
* Shabbir Khan
* Vikram Pillay