Malaysia’s Hafifihafiz Hanafi (left) tries to stop India’s Diwakar on Monday. — Picture by Ikhwan MunirAFTER three straight defeats, Malaysia have another three matches to play in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, but going by their current form, they are staring at another three defeats.
The chinks were there for all to see in the match against India on Monday, where Malaysia were given a lesson in hockey in a 5-2 drubbing despite the Indians having injected many new players into their team after their Asian Games failure.
Malaysia, on the other hand, fielded the same Asian Games side which took silver minus penalty corner flicker Amin Rahim.
"We were rattled because the regular defenders were injured and I had to rotate players. This is why their performance dropped against India," said Malaysia's coach Tai Beng Hai.
Tactically and even fitness-wise, Malaysia are not too far behind the other Asian teams.
The only difference is that Korea, India and Pakistan seem to be able to rely on their back-up players when regulars get injured or retire, and their standard of play is almost the same.
A classic example is India, who left behind their best penalty corner flicker Sandeep Singh and were willing to try out Rupinder Singh for this tournament.
The 23-year-old has scored five goals so far in the tournament, one of which was in India's 1-1 draw with Australia.
However, Malaysia look like lost lambs and have not scored a single penalty corner goal after Amin Rahim was rested due to a knee injury he picked up in the Malaysia Hockey League.
"We have limited replacements on the bench, and when Amin and Madzli (Ikmar) are sidelined, the others find it difficult to fill their shoes," added Beng Hai.
Malaysia play New Zealand today, followed by South Korea and Pakistan.
In the last meeting during the World Cup Qualifier in Invercargill, Malaysia were edged 2-1 by the Kiwis in the final and missed the boat to the New Delhi World Cup.
New Zealand have also been struggling in this tournament and only have one point to show, but it won't come as a surprise if Malaysia hand them three more points.
