India thrash Bangladesh 6-0

The other scorers were Tushar Khandekar, Shivendra Singh and Prabhjot Singh (2).

“It took the boys some time to get a feel of the match, as they were tired after playing Korea. Mentally, they were not into the match in the first half. But they got better as the match progressed,” coach Joaquim Carvalho said.

The first half was a grueling encounter between the skill of the Indian midfield and the defiance of Bangladesh goalkeeper Mohammad Zahid. He was up to the task and thwarted a number of chances India created. That he bagged the Man of the Match was testimony to his performance.

The Bangla full-backs, Mohammad Isa Mia and Mohammad Mamun, too, did their bit to keep India under check.

It took full-back V Raghunath to tick off the proceedings. An unmarked Raghunath didn’t err to deflect Shivendra’s accurate cross from the right in the 31st minute. The other five goals came in the second half only. Tushar Khandekar deflected one past Zahir in the 38 th minute, while Shivendra Singh raised India’s lead to 3-0 in no less than two minutes. Then Prabhjot joined the party with his two goals and Raghunath blasted home the last via a penalty corner.

Malaysia upset giant-killers Japan 2-0 to make the three-way-race in Pool A more intriguing. All three teams, including Pakistan could still make it to the semi-finals. Much depends on the Malaysia-Pakistan encounter tomorrow, and it could boil down to goal-difference.

Hong Kong came back twice from behind to edge past fellow also-rans Singapore 3-2, to record their maiden victory in Asia Cup.

Tomorrow’s matches

Thailand V Sri Lanka (3pm), Korea V China (5pm), Pakistan V Malaysia (7pm).

Women’s hockey

• In the women’s Asia Cup being played in Hong Kong, India will take on Singapore on Wednesday.