India?s Hari Prasad (left) gets past Pakistan defenders during the third Test at the Lala Ayub Stadium in Peshawar on Wednesday. Sohail Abbas scored the hosts? winning goal minutes before the end of play. (AFP)

Peshawar: India fought bravely before succumbing 2-3 against Pakistan in the third hockey Test between the arch-rivals here on Wednesday.

Trailing by two goals into the second half, India did well to bounce back into the match with goals in the 48th and 60th minute through Hari Prasad and Arjun Halappa. But a Sohail Abbas strike just three minutes before close did them in.

Pakistan, who won the first Test in Karachi before losing in Quetta, now lead the series 2-1 with the fourth and final match of the Pakistan leg in Lahore on Friday.

Mudassar Ali Khan (15th) and Shakeel Abbasi (25th) gave the hosts a fine start. India, who struggled for possession in the first half, looked a completely different side after the break, however, as they made a number of attacks on the opposition post.

Besides the two goals, which were the outcome of some beautifully-executed moves by the young forwards, the side was unlucky for missing out on a number of occasions.

They failed to score even once from four penalty corners they got against their formidable rivals.

India earned a penalty corner quite soon after the match started but failed to capitalise on it, thus losing a great opportunity to take an early lead. That was all the Indians could do in the opening session as Pakistan slowly and steadily took control.

The hosts earned the first penalty corner in the 10th minute. The fans cheered for Sohail when the penalty corner expert got ready to take the shot, but Dilawar Hussain erred in stopping the Rehan Butt push properly denying the ace drag-flicker a chance to get closer to highest goal scorer Paul Litjen?s 268 goal mark.

The next three minutes saw the home side coming close to scoring on two occasions but some poor finishing by the forwards prevented them from finding the target.

In the 15th minute, Pakistan took the lead. After getting a pass from a counter move, Mudassar rolled the ball inside the circle before hitting a rasping shot that caught goalkeeper Adrian D?Souza off-guard.

D?Souza failed to make the proper judgement as the hit went through his legs much to the delight of the home supporters, who had thronged the stadium in large numbers.

Ten minutes later, Abbasi made the scoreline 2-0 with yet another field goal that gave the home side a stronghold over the match. In between, India earned two more penalty corners but failed to score on both the occasions.

Sandeep Singh was off target in the first of the two set-pieces in the 24th minute before Hallapa hit dangerously three minutes later as the side employed a variation hoping to reduce the margin. Hari Prasad?s goal added more fire in their attack after the break as they pressed hard for the equaliser, which came at the hour mark. (PTI)