India beat fighting Malaysia 2-1 to enter Sultan of Johor Cup final

India defeated hosts Malaysia 2-1 in their last group game to progress to the final of the Sultan of Johor Cup junior men’s hockey tournament here on Friday.

India converted two penalty corners through Gurjot Singh (22^nd minute) and Sourabh Anand Kushwaha (48^th) to secure the win and set up a summit clash against Australia on Saturday.

Malaysia’s goal was scored by Naaveenesh Panicker in the 43^rd minute.

It was India’s record eighth final at the Sultan of Johor Cup out of 12 appearances.

Both the teams were sloppy to start off as they found the wet conditions difficult to negotiate after the match started late due to rain.

Initially, India tried to catch Malaysia off guard through long aerial balls but the ploy didn’t pay much dividends.

With the pitch becoming better, India started the second quarter on an aggressive note and won two back-to-back penalty corners. They came close to taking the lead on one occasion but were denied first by Malaysian goalkeeper Haziq Hairul and then by the crossbar from a Araijeet Hundal’s rebound hit.

But in the 22^nd minute, Gurjot scored from a rebound with an easy tap-in after the initial effort from a penalty corner was saved by the Malaysian custodian.

India went into the breather with a slender one goal lead but were also guilty of wasting plenty of chances. They got as many as nine penalty corners in the first two quarters but converted just one.

After the change of ends, India continued to mount pressure on the Malaysian defence with the home team’s goalkeeper coming to his side’s rescue again in the 35^th minute with another fine save.

Malaysia levelled the scores in the 43^rd minute with Naaveenesh finding the net with an easy tap-in as the Indian defenders failed to clear the ball from inside the circle.

But it didn’t take long for India to restore their lead as five minutes later, an unmarked Kushwaha scored from a rebound from a one-on-one situation with the Malaysian goalkeeper.

India wasted another penalty corner in the 53^rd minute as the stopper failed to control Hundal’s injection.

Desperate for the equaliser, Malaysia committed numbers upfront, which resulted in two penalty corners but the Indian defence stood tall.

The Indians displayed good composure and alertness in the final quarter as they were able to thwart Malaysia’s dangerous attacks with stout defending and man-to-man marking.