Jolted by a loss to the Netherlands, India would look to re-group quickly when it takes on Malaysia in the quarterfinal of the Hockey World League semifinal, here on Thursday.
After registering three convincing wins against Scotland, Canada and Pakistan, India wasted chances galore to slump to a 1-3 defeat against the Netherlands, the first in the tournament.
Finishes second in group
The loss meant India finished second in Pool B behind Netherlands, which kept a clean slate.
The Indians only have themselves to blame for the defeat against the Dutch as besides conceding soft goals, they wasted numerous scoring chances.
And come Thursday, Roelant Oltmans’ men cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes against Malaysia, which is capable of springing surprises.
“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,” coach Oltmans had said after the defeat against Netherlands.
Going by form and ranking, world no. 6 India starts favourite against the 14th-placed Malaysians.
While striker Akashdeep Singh has been in superb form, scoring some scintillating goals in the tournament, he would look for support upfront from the likes of S.V. Sunil, Talwinder Singh and Mandeep Singh.
India’s midfield, led by the talismanic Sardar Singh and skipper Manpreet Singh, will have to take more responsibility while the inexperienced defence needs to pull up its socks as one bad day in office can now throw the team out of the tournament.
In the absence of Rupinderpal Singh, India was found wanting in penalty corner conversions with the young Harmanpreet Singh and Jasjit Singh Kular failing to live up to the expectations of Oltmans.
But the performances of reserve goalkeepers Vikas Dahiya and Akash Chikte in the absence of an injured P.R. Sreejesh have been heartening.
Meanwhile, in other quarterfinals, reigning Olympic champion Argentina will play Pakistan, the Netherlands will take on China and host England will square off against Canada.
