India looks to work on PC conversion rate against Malaysia
India struggled visibly when it came to penalty corner conversion rate against Japan on Friday at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored the lone goal for India against Japan
CHENNAI: Tournament favourite and three-time champion India would look to work on its penalty corner conversion rate when it takes on Malaysia in its next Asian Champions Trophy match here on Sunday.
India struggled visibly when it came to penalty corner conversion rate against Japan on Friday at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here.
The Indians earned as many as 15 penalty corners but converted just one despite having a potent force in skipper Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas and Jugraj Singh.
India was lethal with its penalty corners in the 7-2 win over China in its opening match as six of the goals were scored through set pieces.
However, it was a complete contrast in the 1-1 draw against Japan on Friday.
Harmanpreet converted one of the 15 penalty corners India had secured in the hard-fought draw against Japan.
India’s chief coach Craig Fulton is visibly concerned but said the team is not far from attaining itss full finishing potential.
“It’s every coach’s concern if you are not converting your chances, whether corners or field goals,” he said.
“It’s not that we are not playing in our system. We are playing the way we want to play, and even on Friday, we had two-three really good counters. We are one phase away from finishing the way we want to,” he had said after the Japan draw.
India’s over-reliance on extracting corners is also a matter of concern, as during the game against Japan, the players were seen refraining from going for field goals from inside the box.
Therefore, Harmanpreet has a task at hand to ensure that the team utilises clear scoring opportunities to the fullest and not be selfish in terms of earning enough penalty corners.
“We will try to attack the areas that gave us goals in the opening game (vs China). We would also try something new,” Harmanpreet had said.
Next for India is Malaysia, a team which has surprised all with its performance, having trounced Pakistan (3-1) and China (5-1) in its opening two contests.
