Under fire for the poor performance against South Korea, India responded well against Malaysia.

India put up a much-improved performance in the Asia Cup to beat Malaysia 6-2 in the second match of the Super 4s stage in Dhaka on Thursday. The win puts India on the verge of entering Sunday’s final. However, they will have to get at least a draw against Pakistan in their final Super 4s game on Saturday to be assured of a place in the title clash.

India did well to recover from a listless 1-1 draw against South Korea on Wednesday. The midfield and forward line looked completely out of sorts and a last-minute equaliser by Gurjant Singh helped India salvage a point from that match. Under fire for the poor performance, the players responded well against Malaysia, who were unbeaten against India this year before Thursday’s match.

But Sjoerd Marjine’s side controlled the play from first minute and adopted a much more offensive approach. Forward Akashdeep Singh opened the scoring in 15th minute before drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh coverted a penalty corner four minutes later. SK Uthappa tripled India’s lead in the 24th minute by latching on to a pass from SV Sunil and unleashing a fierce hit, giving Malaysia goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam no chance to save.

Malaysia had their chances and earned a couple of penalty corners but could not capitalise as the Indian defence held a tight line. India continued to dominate after the half-time break. Akashdeep, who scored the opening goal, turned the provider this time, setting-up Gurjant for India’s fourth in the 33rd minute. Sunil added fifth in the 40th minute while Akashdeep scored another in the final minute. Malaysia scored two goals in the final quarter but they proved to be mere consolations.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/hockey/asia-cup-india-trounce-malaysia-6-2-4898233/