India on Wednesday claimed the bronze medal at the Asian Champions Trophy after beating arch-rivals Pakistan 4-3 in a thrilling contest at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

India took the lead in the very first minute through vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh before Sumit (45th), Varun Kumar (53rd) and Akashdeep Singh (57th) struck a goal each.

For Pakistan', Afraz equalised in the tenth minute, with Abdul Rana giving Pakistan the lead in the 33rd minute, before India struck back again. Ahmed Nadeem scored Pakistan's third in the 57th minute.

India’s Manpreet Singh was named player of the match.

This was the first time that Pakistan had failed to make it to the final of the Asian Hockey Championship, after losing to South Korea in another pulsating contest on Tuesday that ended 6-5.

South Korea will play Japan in the final later today.

Pakistan and India are also the most successful sides in the tournament, having won outright two championships each out of the five championship held so far. The two teams were also declared joint winners in the last tournament in 2018 after the final was washed out due to persistent rain.

India, meanwhile, will be returning home with a consolation prize after having lost to Japan 3-5 in the semifinals on Tuesday.

“It was a great match. We won the match and got the bronze medal. If you see Pakistan also played really well. It was a good match. Everyone enjoyed it. We wanted to bounce back after losing the semifinal. We wanted to win this match,” Manpreet Singh told reporters after the match.

There were mixed reactions to Pakistan’s defeat as a few experts questioned Pakistan’s playing techniques while a few praised their efforts.