Convincing win for Malaysia

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 13. Malaysian juniors posted a convincing 2-1 win over India in the third of the four-Test match hockey series at the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) astro turf stadium here on Thursday. At half-time, the teams were tied 1-1.

The first half goal, struck from the spot by Arjun Hallappa, seemed the only deviation in a day dominated by the visitor. The penalty was awarded following the felling of Somesh Kantha by a Malaysian defender in the semi-circle.

The equaliser came with just seconds remaining for the breather. Amidst a porous Indian defence, Mohd. Fairus' presence in close proximity of the goalmouth and the nudge off a pass from Zahrin, almost went unnoticed, till the breach had been made.

The scattered Indian defence enabled another inroad by the tourist, just eight minutes into the latter half. The trio of Jivan, Azlan and Md. Tajol Rosli steadily advanced to the rival citadel from the right.

In the three-pronged formation, Rosli at left, unmarked and unchecked, faced virtually no resistance in unleashing a firm drive to the opponent's backboard. And that turned out to be the match-winner. Presently, Pfokrolo replaced Mallan Gowda under the bar for India, but by then the damage had been done.

Fairly early in the game, the visitor blunted the Indian frontline with some very tight man-to-man marking. The absence of host skipper Bipin Fernandez, sidelined with a shoulder muscle catch, was sorely felt. The ribbon was thus pinned to Deepak Thakur's sleeve and he donned the mantle of leadership.

Thakur, however was no match for Fernandez in marshalling the mid-field. Somesh Kantha did try his hand at scheming, but with limited success. Missing today was the steady stream of passes from mid-field to the forwards as also a check on the rival forays.

On Thursday, Thakur was hardly the Indian attack's architect, which he was in the last two Tests. Allowed just twice to break free, his pet reverse hits made little impact. While the Indians tried, often in vain to dispossess the visitor, the latter with striking skill, launched assault after assault with a fair amount of accuracy and frequency.

Malaysia's counter-attacks too gave the Indian half a torrid time. One such instance was Rosli's second shy, which missed the upright by a whisker. Against Malaysia's four, India got five penalty corners, two of them in the last six minutes. The home side's forwards failed to scoop over rival custodian Shaiful Azhar, sprawled on the turf on both occasions and instead pushed it feebly right into him.

Assessing the performance of his boys at the end of the day, Yahya Atan, the Malaysian coach found it was ball possession that separated the winner from vanquished. ``But for some minor mistakes, our players followed instructions,'' Atan said. Video replays of the earlier Tests had been studied and errors eliminated, he felt.

His counterpart Charles Cornelius conceded that it was simply not India's day. Fernandez's not taking the field was a major setback, he said, although the coach seemed prepared to take on the Malaysians, should the Indian skipper be unavailable in the deciding Test on Friday.

``Our defenders rarely applied the full blade of the stick to effect stops,'' he said. As many as five substitutions were carried out to give variety to the attack. But then it was simply not India's day, he reiterated.

Earlier, the teams were introduced to the Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, S.S. Khosla.

Mohd. Fairus (centre) scoring the equaliser for Malaysia in the third Test of the junior hockey series against India at Hyderabad on Thursday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Kiwis cancel Pakistan tour
Next     : Afro-Asian Games postponed