Giving a brilliant exhibition of their individual skills, Pakistan overcame Spain 4-2 for their third win in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at the National Stadium at Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
Kashif Jawaad scored a hat-trick for the winners.
The victory, marked by goals from Shabbir Hussain (6th minute) and Kashif Jawaad (17th, 45th and 66th) took Pakistan to the top of the league table where they displaced Germany on superior goal-difference.
Spain, who scored through Pol Amat (43rd) when he converted a rebound after a Xavier Ribas penalty corner flick came off the post, and Ribas (penalty corner, 62nd) could not contain the mercurial Pakistani forwards who sparkled with their dribbles and dodges.
After Hussain put them in front when he found the boards on the second attempt, the Pakistanis repeatedly swept through the Spanish defence which had a difficult time. Soon, Pakistan went 2-0 up when Jawaad capped a Muhammad Nadeem-Rehan Butt move.
On change of ends, Spain pulled one back as Pol Amat scored only to concede a goal within minutes when Jawaad flicked home a quickly taken free-hit by Ghazanfar Ali to effectively seal the match.
Though Spaniards fought back with a goal by Ribas, the Pakistanis struck a fourth time when Jawaad completed his hat-trick after being put through by Hussain.