Asian Champions Trophy: India look to sort out finishing woes, face Malaysia | Hockey News

CHENNAI: During the Asian Champions Trophy match against Japan on Friday, the crowd at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium erupted in joy every time the announcer, in his booming voice, said: “Penalty corner for Team India.”

But it was invariably followed by silence and frustration as the Harmanpreet Singh-led team squandered multiple chances in the 1-1 stalemate.
Despite securing as many as 15 penalty corners in the match, India, ranked fourth in the world, managed to breach the watertight Japanese defence only once.

It took some wizardry from Harmanpreet, who saved India’s blushes with his PC conversion in the third quarter.
If not for the Indian captain’s timely strike, the home side would have slumped to their maiden defeat in the tournament, just a day after directly converting five of their nine penalty corners in the 7-2 thrashing of China.

With sterner tests ahead, first up a clash against tabletoppers Malaysia (6 points from 2 matches) on Sunday, the second-placed India (4 points from 2 matches) cannot afford to be inconsistent in the final third of the field. Head coach Craig Fulton and Harmanpreet acknowledged that work needed to be put in behind the scenes.
“It is every coach’s concern when you are not converting your chances, whether they are PCs or field goals. Normally, you always try to work out why and find a solution for that, the combination of players [who could be used] together. We have to get better and be ready for the next game,” said Fulton after the India-Japan match.
On his part, Harmanpreet, India’s top-scorer of the tournament with three goals, said: “Japan’s defence was good. We followed our strategy based on the information we received. For the next matches, we know what other things we can do. We will try to explore that.”
India will have to raise their level when they lock horns with World No.10 Malaysia.