Indian Captain Harmanpreet Singh on Saturday promised better showing by his team against Malaysia in the Hero Asian Champions trophy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Egmore here saying ‘”We know what we need to do in our Game on Sunday”

The hosts made an impressive start in the tournament, a with a dominating 7-2 win against China but had to wage a grim battle before settling for a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Japan in their second encounter. Japan proved to be a stern test of their mettle. Despite creating numerous scoring opportunities and 15 penalty corners , the hosts failed to breach the resilient Japanese defense and settled for a draw.

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India is currently second on the points table, will have to rethink their tactics , identify areas of improvement before taking on current table toppers Malaysia.

Speaking ahead of the match, Harmanpreet said, “We know what we need to do in our next game against Malaysia. Our focus is on capitalizing on the areas that led to our successful goals in the opening game against China. Additionally, we’re eager to try something new in our upcoming match.”

Coach Craig Fulton said the team will take lessons from the game against Japan and make necessary improvements in their upcoming games. “We wanted to win against Japan and had enough chances. It’s not a nice feeling, but we have got to get better and be ready for the next game,”

“It’s every coach’s concern if you are not converting your chances, whether corners or field goals. So, you always try to work out ‘why?’ and try to find a solution for that and combinations of players together.” Fulton said.

“However, the fact that we are winning a lot of corners is good. We also had a few shots. So, it’s not that we are not playing in our system. We are playing the way we want to play, and even against Japan, we had two-three really good counters. We are one phase away from finishing the way we want to,” he added.

Now, the spotlight is on the clash against Malaysia, which are currently on top of the points table with two wins in as many games. They defeated Pakistan 3-1 in their opening game, while in the second match, they came from behind to beat China 5-1.

Moreover, in the previous editions of the tournament, Malaysia have proven to be a tough nut to crack, and India are well aware of the challenges that await them on the field, hence the hosts will aim to be fully prepared for the clash on Sunday.