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.