Preview: India vs Malaysia Hockey Match live streaming and TV telecast info, Asia Cup 2017
After an almost perfect start to the tournament in the group stage, India cruised to the Super 4 of the Asia Cup Men's Hockey 2017 at Dhaka, Bangladesh. However, a draw in the Super 4 against South Korea has made the Indian contingent nervous as they face Malaysia on Thursday.
The confidence of the men in blue will be slightly low as compared to the previous game as it was only a last minute Gurjant Singh strike that saved them against South Korea. The counter attacking Koreans defended fiercely and didn't let India reach their top form in the game.
India should be prepared against a similar tactic by Malaysians as well as a win in this game is very important. India had a huge share of possession and numerous scoring chances but only one ball could breach the Korean defense.
Malaysia were the top scorers in group stage being one ahead of India with 16 goals. However, they faced one goal more as compared to India. Thus, the Indian defence needs to be prepared against the striking partnership of Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Faizal Saari who scored 63% of Malaysian goals in the group stages.
The latter come with more confidence on the back of a 3-2 win against Pakistan in Super 4 and 2-1 win against South Korea in group stage. They overthrew Pakistan's lead twice in the same game to register their 3 goals. The top 2 teams from the Super 4 will qualify for the finals and the battle to the finals will be tougher past every game.
The Indian trio of Ramandeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Somwarpet Sunil will be looking to threaten the Malaysian goal on Thursday always as the Indian team has scored a total of 15 field goals in the group stages itself with the trio accounting for 67% of those goals.
It will be interesting to see if the revelations brought in by coach Marijne work against the best team of the tournament so far. Penalty corners continue to remain the issue of concern for India as they were no good at them against South Korea as well. India really need to up the ante in case of corners in order to register a win against Malaysia. A victory here would almost guarantee India a place in the finals with South Korea, Malaysia and Pakistan left hanging to fight for one spot.
Match Info:
The India vs Malaysia match is set to get underway at 5pm, on Thursday.
The match will be broadcasted live on Star Sports. You can also stream it live on Hotstar.com