Asia Cup Final: India vs Malaysia Preview

Published 10/22/2017, 7:25 AM EDT

The Indian hockey team secured a rampant 4-0 win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the to continue their unbeaten run in the competition and confirm a spot in the Hockey Asia Cup final, where they will face Malaysia. The sixth ranked India needed just a draw to confirm their progression into the final. After lacklustre display in the first half, the Men in Blue came alive in the 3rd and 4th quarters to register a 4-0 victory over Pakistan.

The scorers were, Satbir Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh. By virtue of this win, India topped the Super 4 stage with seven points, They also continued their domination over Pakistan, making it two in two in the tournament against bitter rivals. It was India’s fourth win over Pakistan this year, after coming out on top twice in the Hockey World League Semi-finals in London and once in the pool stages in the current event.

Malaysia, meanwhile, held South Korea to a 1-1 draw to advance into the Asia Cup final for the first time since 1982. Defending champions, South Korea required a win to progress, while Malaysia a draw to advance. So far, India have never lost a single match in the Asia cup. Going into the Asia cup final, India have only had 1 draw, which was against South Korea.

The two teams have met on 5 occasions with India winning 4 encounters and drawing once. The 2 teams first met in the 1994 Asia Cup Super 4s where India won 3-2. In 1999, the 2 met twice, drawing 1-1 the first time in the group stage. India won 4-2 in the battle for 3rd. The two didn’t meet in 2003 as Malaysia didn’t make it beyond the group stage. In 2007, India and Malaysia both qualified but didn’t meet each other. India failed to qualify during the 2009 Asia cup. Malaysia and India picked up their rivalry in 2013 where India emerged victorious. The Indian Hockey team do have a chance of topping as South Korea and Pakistan have drawn with each other.

The final will begin at 5PM IST, with the match being held in Bangladesh. The match can be streamed on hotstar or you can catch on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD 2

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.