Hockey Preview: India Take on Malaysia For a Spot in Semis

With three wins and one loss, India finished second in Pool B.

India take on Malaysia on Thursday. (Photo: AP)

(Photo: AP)

• India take on Malaysia in the quarter-final of the Hockey World League Semi-Final on Thursday, 22 June
  
• With three wins against Scotland, Canada and Pakistan and one loss against Netherlands, India finished second in Pool B
  
• The match will be aired on Star Sports 2/HD2 and Hotstar at 8 pm IST
  

After losing to the Netherlands, India will look to regroup quickly when they take on Malaysia in the quarter-final of the Hockey World League Semi-Final, in London on Thursday, 22 June.

After registering three convincing wins against Scotland, Canada and Pakistan, India wasted a number of chances to slump to a 1-3 defeat against the Netherlands, their first in the tournament.

India finished second in Pool B behind Netherlands, who kept a clean slate.

Manpreet Singh is leading the Indian hockey team. (Photo: Hockey India) (Photo: Hockey India)

Against the Dutch, the Indians conceded soft goals and wasted numerous scoring chances.

But on 22 June, Roelant Oltmans' men cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes against Malaysia, who are capable of springing surprises on their day.

After their defeat against Netherlands, Oltmans said:

This was our toughest match in the group and we had our chances, too. The good thing is that we came back after being 3-0 down but we didn’t do enough and got punished.

Going by form and ranking, world number 6 India are overwhelming favourites against the 14th-placed Malaysians.

While striker Akashdeep Singh has been in superb form, scoring some scintillating goals in the tournament, he will look for support upfront from the likes of SV Sunil, Talwinder Singh and Mandeep Singh.

Akashdeep Singh has been in superb form. (Photo: AP)(Photo: AP)

India's midfield, led by Sardar Singh and skipper Manpreet Singh, will have to take more responsibility while the inexperienced defence needs to pull up its socks as one off-day can now throw the team out of the tournament.

In the absence of Rupinder Pal Singh, India were found wanting in penalty corner conversions, with Harmanpreet Singh and Jasjit Singh Kular failing to live up to Oltmans’ expectations.

But the performance of the reserve goalkeepers, Vikas Dahiya and Akash Chikte, in the absence of an injured PR Sreejesh, has been heartening.

Meanwhile, in other quarterfinals of the day, reigning Olympic champions Argentina will play Pakistan, the Netherlands will take on China and hosts England will square off against Canada.

(With inputs from PTI)

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