Dhanraj Pillay is tackled by Amrit Lakra during their Beighton Cup semi-final at Mohun Bagan ground on Sunday. BSF won 7-6 via sudden death. Picture by Gautam Bose

Calcutta: Defending champions BSF (Jalandhar) on Sunday set up the summit clash with Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) in the IndianOil 111th Beighton Cup.

In the semi-finals at the Mohun Bagan ground, PSB came from a goal behind to beat Army XI 2-1, while the Jalandhar outfit edged past Indian Airlines 7-6 via the sudden death.

The uneven bounce of the grassy field played a killjoy in the free-flowing hockey, but there was no dearth of drama and tension in the back-to-back matches.

Both semi-finals saw the teams ? boasting of some of India’s great exponents of the game at their disposal ? pushing each other to the last dregs of fight before settling for the verdict.

Army XI, last year’s runners-up, held clear edge over PSB in the first-half and Ellyasar Lakra gave them a deserving lead in the 28th minute when he capped off a fine move down the left flank.

PSB earned a penalty corner ? their first of the five ? immediately after conceding the goal, but some silly misunderstanding from their end on top of the D led to the rival defence parrying the danger.

It was, however, a sign of things to come as PSB went for the jugular right from the word go in the second-half. The second penalty corner came their way two minutes into the restart, but it was again not put to any good use.

The equaliser eventually came in the 47th minute, with Mandeep Singh converting the third penalty corner. Within three minutes, Gurvinder Singh Chandi brought about the winner.

Then in the dying minutes, PSB survived a scare when Anil Ekka missed a clear chance. The Army XI forward, having followed a through from the midfield, feinted a defender and then, even got past the advancing goalkeeper Teja Singh. But his final touch was too fast and he tried to finish it off in a hurry ? the result being a shot off the target.

“We are accustomed to play on astroturf and so we took little time to settle down on the grass. That’s why you would notice that we played much better in the second-half,” PSB manager and former Olympian Sanjeev Dang said after the match.

“It’s a hard-earned win. We all played well and thoroughly deserved it,” the city star Baljit Singh Saini, who has now moved to Punjab, maintained.

Army XI ’keeper thwarts a PSB move in their semi-final on Sunday. PSB won 2-1

In the second match, even the Dhanraj Pillay-inspired Indian Airlines display was not enough to have the last laugh as BSF pipped them to the final via the sudden death.

Both teams were tied 1-1 after the extra-time. Raj Singh put BSF ahead in the 24th minute, but the advantage was nullified by Vimal Lakra six minutes from time.

In the tie-break, both Indian Airlines and BSF missed their opening hits, through Sandeep Michael and Raj Singh, respectively. However, they went on to be spot-on in the next four hits from the spot.

This led to the sudden death, where BSF captain Harbhajan Singh and Indian Airlines’ Virender Lakra found the target. Devinder Kumar, then, scored for BSF, and his ’keeper M.K. Pomaiah guessed it right to block Sanjeev Kumar’s try.

The Indian Airlines game-maker Dhanraj Pillay felt that bowing out of the tournament was a “bit disappointing”, but “it was overall a happy experience for me”.

“When a match goes into tie-break, it could be anybody’s game. It was too hot out there and also playing on grass required a lot of stamina. That’s why I opted for breaks quite a few times,” the four-time Olympian and World Cupper said.

He, however, pitched in for astroturf here. “I wanted to play here because it is an over 100-year-old tournament. A tournament with so much history and tradition should be played on astroturf and then, we can entertain spectators with more skills and speed,” he maintained.

“But I love to play here? if my team is invited again, I may come,” he signed off.