India turns on the heat, blank Malaysia 

CHENNAI: On Sunday, the second Summer in the city continued unabated. Temperatures stayed between 37 and 38 degrees Celsius for the majority of the afternoon, until the sea breeze finally arrived after 6 o’clock.

Fans nevertheless flocked to the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium for the first time this week despite that. For all three games, the three stands were fully occupied and quite loud (chants of “Pakistan Zindabad” were just one of many heard that day).

When S Karthi, a native of Tamil Nadu, scored the opening goal against Malaysia, the commotion intensified. A day before the tournament started, coach Craig Fulton had challenged him to complete a striker’s finish of such kind.Right defender Harmanpreet Singh attempted a hopeful diagonal from within his own half. The speculative pass ended up being a superb ball since it was intercepted by Karthi, who was positioned slightly to the left of centre.

Before firing a powerful drive past Malaysia custodian Hafizuddin Othman, he took one touch to settle the ball. The score couldn’t have arrived at a better moment; it came at the conclusion of a very cagey first quarter in which both teams struggled to get shots on goal. The only gilt-edged opportunity of the first quarter belonged to the hosts, as Sukhjeet Singh misfired from close range.

But the goal seemed to give the Men In Blue the boost they required. In the second stanza, they got going quickly, and it paid handsomely. They were moving with greater purpose, passing more precisely, and buzzing like bees. India, who started the game in third place behind South Korea and Malaysia, was obviously in the lead even though the second quarter was goalless.

They had more possession of the ball, more penetrations into the circle, more penalty corners, and more shots that were on target. Two minutes into the third period, they increased their lead by two goals thanks to their technical superiority; Hardik Singh converted from close range after the opponents failed to clear a penalty corner.