While India may have lost the encounter in three straight sets, they gave a tough fight to the host nation in each of the three with the first two going down to the wire.
What cost India the match was off-form of 6ft 9 inch spiker GR Vaishnav, who could garner only four points for his team.
While veteran Punjab player Gurinder Singh was impressive at the net with 13 points, Naveen Raja Jacob also got 10 points with his deceptive drops.
It was Prabhakaran's ineffective spikes that also cost India at key points as he could successfully log home only eight points.
The Indian men will play their next group league play-off against Qatar tomorrow.