India comeback from two-goal down to defeat Malaysia

The Indian junior men’s hockey team continued their unbeaten run recording a third consecutive victory in the Sultan of Johor Cup 2024 on Tuesday.

India returned from a two-goal deficit to defeat hosts Malaysia 4-2.

With this win, India is on top of the points table with 9 points, New Zealand is placed second with 5 points, and Australia is placed third with 4 points.

Sharda Nand Tiwari (11′), Arshdeep Singh (13′), Talem Priyobarta (39′), and Rohit (40′) scored in India’s win while Muhammad Danish Aiman (8′) and Harris Osman (9′) scored for Malaysia.

Malaysia started dominantly and scored two goals in the first ten minutes to put India under extreme pressure.

A quick-fire goal was set up by captain Muhammad Addy Jazmi Jamlus who assisted Muhammad Danish Aiman to score a fine field goal in the 8th minute of the match. They doubled this lead in the following minute when Osman Harris scored from a PC.

Though the 2-0 lead for Malaysia was a setback for India, the forwards shook off the early nerves and created scoring opportunities. In-form drag-flicker Sharda Nand Tiwari helped India score India’s first goal in the 11th minute through a perfectly-converted PC.

India equalised in the 13th minute when Arshdeep Singh scored a fine field goal assisted by Manmeet Singh. While the second quarter remained goalless, there was plenty of action in the third quarter with India returning from the half-time break with renewed vigour in their attack.

For the first time in the match, India took a narrow 3-2 lead in the 39th minute when Talem Priyobarta hit an audacious shot on the goal from a narrow-angle on the side of the circle. Later, Rohit extended the lead to 4-2 with an accurate dragflick.

The fourth quarter began with Malaysia earning a PC, but they were off the mark. In the following minutes, there was a flurry of PC’s won by both India and Malaysia but neither could come up with a successful conversion.

However, India did well to hold on to the 4-2 lead till the final hooter and stay on top of the points table.