Indian Oil, Delhi, encountered stiff resistance from Air India, Mumbai, before prevailing 5-3 in the second semi-final of the seventh All India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup hockey tournament at the Mahindra Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The Delhi side were in the driver's seat with a two-goal lead, but suddenly found themselves trailing 2-3 with the airmen scoring three goals in the space of four minutes.

However, centre-forward Rajpal Singh scored a brace in the last 20 minutes of the match to see the oilmen through to the final, where they will play Punjab and Sind Bank on Thursday.

Hamza Muztaba put Indian Oil in front in the 17th minute when he sweetly deflected an Arvind Yadav hit. Ten minutes later forward Mohammed Nawaz Khan made it 2-0 off defender Bikramjeet Singh's pass.

With a minute to go for half-time, Air India forward Surinder Kundu scored following their seventh penalty-corner.

Two minutes after the break Gavin Ferreira equalised when he converted Air India's eighth penalty-corner.

A minute later, Air India went ahead for the first time in the match when Kundu converted a penalty stroke, after Harish Kumar was brought down by Inder Salaria in the 38th minute.

However, IOC fought back well and forced their fourth penalty-corner which was converted by defender Sunil Yadav in the 44th minute. Six minutes later Rajpal Singh flicked home skipper Jasvinder Singh cross and then converted the eighth penalty-corner in the 65th minute to round off the tally.

Yesterday, in the first semi-final, Punjab and Sind Bank grounded Indian Airlines, Delhi, 3-1.