India went to the top of the table of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2019 with a dominating 4-2 win against host Malaysia on Tuesday at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium, Ipoh.
After sharing points with Republic of Korea in a 1-1 draw in its second match, India put in a strong performance against an error-prone Malaysia to keep have one foot in Saturday's final.
Fine save
India started with reserve keeper Krishan B. Pathak and the 22-year old made a fine save in the first quarter to deny Malaysia from its first penalty corner.
Simranjeet Singh and Sumit had chances to open the scoring for India but missed out on scoring due to poor ball control inside the circle.
After an entertaining but goalless first quarter, India took the lead in the 17th minute through Sumit after India worked its way from a free hit just outside the circle.
Malaysia pushed for an equalizer winning two consecutive short corners and dragflicker Razie Rahim scored in the 21st minute to restore parity. However, Sumit Kumar's field goal in the 27th minute helped the men in blue go into the break leading 2-1.
Varun Kumar made it 3-1 in the 36th minute after India won three consecutive PCs in the third quarter. Malaysia won three consecutive corners with the third quarter winding down, but poor trapping and mis-hits took the steam out of the home team.
In the 57th minute, Tengku Tajuddin pulled one back for Malaysia with a field goal, but Mandeep Singh scored in the next minute to end the match 4-2.
India leapfrogged Korea and Malaysia to the top of the points table with seven points after the win.
The result: India 4 (Sumit 17, Sumit Kumar 27, Varun Kumar 37, Mandeep Singh 58) beat Malaysia 2 (Razie Rahim 21, Tengku Tajuddin 57) .
