Star forward and India skipper Dhanraj Pillay scored the first hat-trick of the tournament as Indian Airlines thrashed Jammu and Kashmir Police 6-0 to storm into the quarter-finals in the Bombay Gold Cup hockey tournament in Mumbai on Thursday.
The policemen did well to prevent the star-studded Indian Airlines team from scoring in the first-half, but once the flood-gates opened, a minute after the half-time, there was no stopping the former champions from Delhi.
After former India captain Mukesh Kumar opened the account with a fine goal, Pillay took over, sounding the board in the 42nd, 45th and 50th minutes.
Mukesh then added his second goal, tapping home an Arjun Halappa pass in the 57th minute, to put Indian Airlines 5-0 up. The cops' agony continued when Girish Pimple scored from Airlines' seventh penalty-corner with three minutes left on the clock, to complete the rout.
In the second match of the day's programme, Indian Oil beat South Central Railway 7-2.
Kamlesh Kumar put Indian Oil ahead in the 12th minute but Amir Srivas restored parity for the railway team two minutes later.
Bipin Timaiah then struck in the 17th minute to give SC Railway a 2-1 lead. But Deepak Thakur and Inder Salaria scored in quick succession in the 24th and 25th minutes to change the complexion of the match.
Leading 3-2 at the breather, Indian Oil played superb hockey in the second session and scored at will through Vikramjit Singh (41st minute), Deepak Thakur (51st) and Inderjit Singh (58 and 62nd minutes) to make it an easy victory.
