With one draw and a loss in their kitty, the Indian hockey team will be eager to look for a win when they take on hosts Malaysia in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Wednesday.
India will take positives out of their last two matches as they gear up for the clash. They will look at keeping their winning record against Malaysia intact as the hosts aim to avenge their past defeats.
While Malaysia lost both their matches against New Zealand and Australia, they will look at opening their account on Wednesday.
The last time both the teams met was during the World Cup last year where India won 3-2. Prior to that, the teams had clashed in the 2013 Asian Champions Trophy and the same year they met during the Asia Cup and on both occasions India came out on top.
Wednesday's clash is important for India as winning all the matches hereon will help them stay in contention for the top-2 slots in the points table.
"We are not allowing the result of yesterday's match to affect us. We played tough in the entire match, they played better than us in the last five minutes," India captain Sardar Singh said, referring to India's 1-2 loss to New Zealand.
"We will come back stronger tomorrow and in the rest of the matches and aim for wins as it will help us for the top slot. Though Malaysia will have the home advantage but the fact that we outwitted them in our last clashes will give us the added boost."
Speaking about the same, India chief coach Paul van Ass said: "The team has played good hockey in the last two matches. We dominated the match against the Black Sticks but they bounced back in the last five minutes which changed the result in their favour. We are disappointed but not de-motivated."
