Indian players try to stop Pakistan?s Sohail Abbas (left) in Lahore on Friday. (AFP)

Lahore: India missed out on a great chance to square the series as they squandered a two-goal advantage to be held 4-4 by Pakistan in a thrilling encounter in the fourth hockey Test on Friday.

India, who were leading 4-2 with just 13 minutes to go for the final hooter, paid the price of being a trifle casual, as their arch-rivals bounced back strongly to score two goals in a span of 10 minutes to maintain their 2-1 lead in the series.

A midfield blunder saw Akhtar Ali scoring in the 57th minute before a 67th minute strike by Rehan Butt helped Pakistan level the score in the final match of the Pakistan-leg, at the National Hockey Stadium.

The teams would now proceed to India on Saturday to play the remaining four matches of the friendship series to be held in New Delhi (October 4), Chandigarh (October 6), Amritsar (October 8) and Hyderabad (October 10).

Vikram Pillay (15th), Sandeep Singh (39th), Arjun Halappa (49th) and Ignace Tirkey (51st) scored for the Indians, while Pakistan struck through Sohail Abbas (14th and 42nd), Akhtar Ali (57th) and Rehan Butt (67th).

The Indians played excellent hockey for most part of the match, but a sloppy display towards the end dashed their hopes of winning the match and squaring the series.

The match saw an intense battle for supremacy between the bitter rivals as both the sides dished out some exciting stuff, much to the delight of the capacity crowd.

The Indians, who seemed to be improving with every outing, were no doubt the better side in the first half with their forwards displaying good co-ordination, putting the Pakistan defence and goalkeeper Salman Akbar under tremendous pressure.

Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep Michael, the three strikers, looked to be in good touch as they made some dangerous moves, but failed to capitalise due to poor finishing.

Despite the fine show by the Indians, it was the home side which took the lead against the run of play when Sohail Abbas scored in the 14th minute from the only penalty corner the side got in the first half.

Sohail?s flick along the ground beat goalkeeper Adrian D?Souza to give the ace penalty corner expert his 264th goal, just three short of the world record holder Paul Litjens of Holland.

The 20,000-odd spectators watching the match jumped with joy when Sohail struck, but their celebration was shortlived as Vikram Pillay equalised a minute later.

Viren Rasquinha followed a fine run with a gentle push which was padded away by Akbar. Pillay, left unmarked inside the circle, scored off the rebound to draw level.

Both sides made some frantic efforts to take the lead before the break, but failed in their attempts.

Pakistan got a great chance to make it 2-1 when Rehan Butt ran a solo for almost 60 yards dodging several Indians before unleashing a crisp shot which went straight to D?Souza, who had no problem in padding it away to safety.

The second half saw the Indians coming hard against their opponents with some aggressive play, a move which paid dividends immediately as Sandeep gave the side a 2-1 lead.

Sandeep earned a penalty corner with a clever flick from a free-hit from just outside the circle and scored from the set-piece. However, the home side took just three minutes to draw level when Sohail scored from the second penalty corner.

Spectacular field goals by Arjun Halappa and Ignace Tirkey rattled Pakistan as the Indians wrested the initiative into the last quarter of the match. Despite taking the two-goal lead, the Indians never slowed down the momentum, which was perhaps to be blamed for the resurgence of the Pakistan side.

Akhtar Ali?s strike, following a counter set up by Butt, gave the home side the confidence they were looking for to bounce back into the match.

India failed to stop Pakistan from earning a penalty corner with just three minutes to go. And though D?Souza did well to stop the Sohail flick, the defenders were late in clearing the ball, which was tapped home by Butt. (PTI)