 "Hosts India currently lead the Asia Cup Super 4s standings after their 4-1 victory over Malaysia. Image: Hockey India")
A quick but heavy shower here in Rajgir threatened a repeat of a delayed start to India’s game on Thursday, but the skies settled down, as did the crowd, after the DJ had switched his playlist to rain songs to keep the fans at the Rajgir Sports Complex entertained.
The pitch was wiped clean by the ball boys, followed by China and Korea playing out the last few minutes of the game that the Chinese men won 3-0 to stay in the race to the final of the Asia Cup. By then, the Malaysian and the India players were already hanging on the sidelines, and they didn’t take long to enter the pitch after the hooter sounded.
India went into the match expectedly nervous, especially because they had to win the game and the wasteful display against Korea had left them low on confidence. That nervousness showed in the second minute, when the defence was out of shape facing a Malaysian attack from the left flank. Harmanpreet Singh was seen waving in disbelief, but Shafiq Hassan found the space he was eying to put the ball in the Indian goal.
Entering the game unbeaten in four matches, the Malaysians had the momentum, which showed in the way they peppered the left flank and kept India from making noteworthy circle entries in the first 15 minutes.
Raj Kumar Pal got the best chance in the first quarter when Dilpreet Singh neatly collected a long aerial from Harmanpreet just outside the Malaysian circle and set up Raj Kumar but the shot from the Indian midfielder was off target.
Fulton’s pep talk prevents another Korea-like result
It wasn’t the confidence-building start India wanted, and coach Craig Fulton looked pretty animated as he gathered the players around him in the quarter break to share some quick notes and instructions.
It did the trick.
The next 15 minutes were the best of the game for India, and the momentum decisively shifted towards the home team. The link-up between the midfield and the strikers was the most fluid India have had so far in the tournament, with Manpreet Singh and Hardik Singh doing the shepherd duties.
It resulted in three goals, starting with the equaliser from Manpreet when Harmanpreet’s flick off the fourth retake of a 17th-minute penalty corner rebounded off the goalkeeper and the ball went straight to Manpreet who made no mistake.
The goal lifted both the Indian team and the fans. While the latter found its voice, the former rediscovered the touch that eluded them on numerous occasions in the match against Korea.
It became 2-1 in the 19th minute when a deft reverse-stick pass from Shailanand Lakra found Sukhjeet perfectly placed to beat the goalkeeper. Five minutes later, in the 24th, Lakra too put his name on the scoresheet, deflecting a slap-push from Dilpreet to breach the Malaysian post.
At half-time, it was 3-1.
“Whenever we played forward-to-forward passes, we converted the chances we created from the second post,” said India’s assistant coach, Shivendra Singh.
Malaysia affected by Saari’s absence
Malaysia were clearly affected by the absence of their star playmaker Fitri Saari, who was out with a suspension following his involvement in the ugly face-off in the match against China. Also missing was the injured Abu Kamal Azrai, replaced by one of the reserves.
“It did look that they were missing Fitri because he is a crucial member of their squad,” said Manpreet. “But we stuck to our plans, though we did start on a slow note and conceded that early goal. The coordination was much better thereafter, and it’s always good to score a goal.”
Malaysia came close to cutting the lead down to one goal soon after half-time, but Krishan Pathak’s stick kept out an aerial flick off a penalty corner.
Jugraj Singh almost added a goal to his name but found the post in the 38th minute. Luckily, the ricochet from the sidebar saw Sumit collecting the ball and sending it to Manpreet, who pushed it towards the centre from the baseline, where Vivek had positioned himself perfectly for a deflection to make it 4-1.
The last 15 minutes didn’t produce any goals, as India defended resolutely to not allow Malaysia any sniff of a comeback.
The win would have settled India down on several counts. They are on top of the ‘Super 4’ table with four points, which gets them a foot in the final. More importantly, it appears to have restored the self belief in the strikers.