India beat Malaysia 2-1 in Sultan of Johor Cup hockey

The chief coach said: “We had gone in the match with a different strategy and focused on man-to-man marking before the Pakistan 25 line in order to defuse their attack and prevent penalty corners, and most of the time we were successful in this plan”. In the 50th minute, India through a penalty corner opportunity scored their third goal coming from the stick Nilakanta Sharma, taking the score to 3-1.

India had earlier defeated Argentina.

With 9 points, defending champions India now lead the points-table, ahead of Great Britain (8) and Argentina (7).

The Indian U-21s went into their match against hosts Malaysia with restored confidence after a hard-fought 4-3 win against Argentina. Forwards Arman Qureshi, Sumit Kumar, Gurjant Singh, Parvinder Singh and Ajay Yadav were always a threat.

After a series of attacks, India earned two penalty corners in a short span but both were saved by Malaysian goal-keeper Ridzwan Azmi.

The first half was an acid-base reaction, with the scoreboard remaining unchanged after 35 minutes. The midfield displayed a speedy game and with the long passes, they tried to penetrate into the Malaysian circle.

It was from one such penalty corner that the side coached by Harenda Singh took the lead when Harmanpreet Singh finished off a Gurjant Singh push in and added his second and India’s second goal of the night from yet another penalty corner strike in the 57th minute. In the 39th minute, the Argentina earned a penalty corner and their captain Maico Casella converted their first goal to reduce the margin to 1-2. Pakistan finally scored a consolation in the last two minutes through Muhammad Qasim to finish the game 3-1. After conceding the goal the Indians counter-attacked from all sides and fought hard to control the ball. However, after conceding the third goal, the Argentineans charged back from the right flank and in the 54th minute, Nicolas Keenan perfectly deflected a pass into the nets for their second goal.

India will face Australia in their fifth match on Saturday.