Asian Champions Trophy: Harmanpreet hat-trick gives India 4-2 win over Malaysia

India beat Malaysia 4-2 at the Asian Champions Trophy at the Olympian Surjeet Stadium in Jalandhar on Sunday, with Harmanpreet Singh scoring a hat-trick. The match took place on the penultimate day of the league stage.

The fixture, billed as India’s toughest test of the tournament, pitted the two highest-ranked sides against one another in a rematch of the Asian Games final. Much of the game was played in midfield, with neither team able to gain complete control and both sides reluctant to surrender the initiative. Compared to the final in Nagoya, Malaysia set up more compactly, anticipating overlaps and using short passes to disrupt India’s rhythm, while India responded by pressing harder and varying their passing.

India grabbed an early lead when Harmanpreet Singh converted the team’s first penalty corner in the third minute, but the hosts then missed several opportunities in the attacking third. With both teams well matched across departments, the contest settled into a physical, attritional battle rather than a high-scoring display.

Harmanpreet completed his hat-trick by converting a second penalty corner in the 33rd minute and a penalty stroke in the 58th; Sukhjeet Singh scored in the 43rd minute. Malaysia had levelled through Akhimullah Anuar’s 25th-minute penalty corner to make it 1-1 at half-time, and Shello Silverius pulled a goal back in the final seconds.

Both coach Craig Fulton and captain Harmanpreet admitted the side needed to be more clinical in front of goal. “We created chances, it is up to us to make use of them,” Fulton agreed.

The results: Korea 5 (Son Dain 17, 32, 51, Park Geunwoo 7-pc, 34-pc) bt Bangladesh 0; Japan 2 (Raiki Fujishima 48-pc, Yuma Nagai 48) drew with China 2 (Jialiang Zhang 8, Chen Benhai 60-pc); India 4 (Harmapreet Singh 3-pc, 33-pc, 58-ps, Sukhjeet Singh 43) bt Malaysia 2 (Akhimullah Anuar 25-pc, Shello Silverius 60).

The result left India as the only unbeaten side and the penultimate day of league play confirmed the semifinalists, with Japan and Korea completing the four-team line-up.