Bharath’s 69th minute strike helped Fortis hold defending champions Indian Oil Corporation Limited 3-3 in a thrilling Tier I encounter of the State Super Division hockey league tie at the KSHA stadium on Friday.

IOCL was sitting comfortably with a 2-0 lead at the breather before Fortis, fresh from their 10-2 rout of HAL staged a stunning comeback to force IOCL split points with them.

Diwakar Ram sounded the bord win the 23rd minute before Kamalesh swelled the IOCL tally in the 26th minute.

Former Indian skipper Dileep Tirkey brought Fortis back into the game with a set-piece conversion in the 45th minute and the League debutants restored parity five minutes later through Brojen Singh.

Though Cheeyanna gave IOCL a 3-2 lead in the 66th minute,  the defending champions couldn't hang on to it as Bharath found the equaliser with just one minute left for the hooter.