India’s third match against Malaysia in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was a repeat of a similar story all over again — the same mistakes of conceding last minute goals and not availing scoring opportunities, not to forget the penalty corner conversions.
After drawing their first match against South Korea and losing their second against New Zealand, the match against Malaysia was a must win for India, in order to remain in contention for the final.
But, once again the ghost of last minute goals haunted India and it lost 2-3 against the hosts, owing to the winner scored by Shahrun Abdullah with two minutes left for the final hooter.
Unlike the last two matches, India, in this match, created more chances, and made more mistakes too.
In the first quarter, which was by and large dominated by Malaysia, Ramandeep Singh made first mistake after he failed to capitalize on the efforts of V.R. Raghunath and Akashdeep Singh.
Malaysia, on the other hand, gave India the first jolt, when a back pass meant for Birendra Lakra, went a little high, finding Faizal Saari, who tried a solo but couldn’t beat P.R. Sreejesh.
After a goalless first quarter, Malaysia increased their attack, resulting in a penalty corner, their first in the 17th minute. Faizal Saari doesn’t disappoint the crowd and scored the first goal with ease.
Desperate in their attempt to equalize, India tried to bounce back, getting a penalty corner in the 19th minute. Rupinderpal Singh took it for India and equalized the score.
Malaysia earned its second penalty corner in the next minute but failed to succeed. With two minutes to go for the half-time, Dharamvir’s solo surprised Malaysia, as he snatched the ball while the two players were passing along to each other. He gave a good ball to Ramandeep Singh, who hit straightaway in the direction of the goalkeeper, giving him an easy save.
Post half-time, with barely five minutes into the game, Haziq Samsul ran past three Indian players, misguiding Sreejesh before putting the ball into the net for the second goal.
Two minutes later, in a captain’s duel, Indian skipper Sardar Singh was pushed by Malaysian skipper Razie Rahim, which gave India a penalty cornert while punishing Razie with a yellow card.
As the game started in the fourth quarter, India missed out on two quick penalty corner chances, before finally converting the fifth one in the 51st minute, thereby equalizing the score.
In what looked like the match that was heading towards a draw, Shahrun Abdullah hammered the final nail in the 58th minute, much to the excitement of the crowd.
With that goal, India not just lost the match, but also the chance to remain in contention for the final match.