Step away from high-five

India,who won the Azlan Shah Cup outright in 2009 and were joint champions with South Korea in 2010,go into Wednesdays match with victories in the last four encounters against Pakistan.

After the reversal against South Korea,India have defeated top-placed Britain and hosts Malaysia,while the match against World champions Australia ended in a 1-1 draw. Pakistans hopes have suffered a jolt as they have lost to both Britain and Australia. We hope to put up a good show,our team has improved with every outing as the youngsters have gained in confidence, says chief coach Harendra Singh. These young players have done a wonderful job and their learning process has got a big boost through the experience here, he said. He said the Indian team was focusing on executing its own strategy,and are not unduly concerned about the opposition. Were not treating the match against Pakistan any differently from the previous games, said Harendra.

I dont think you can term any particular match as a special one. For us each and every encounter is of equal importance, the coach tried to play down the hype that is always generated during an Indo-Pak clash.

Must-win games

Currently placed third in the round-robin league standings 8211; behind Britain nine points from four matches and Australia seven points from three games India need to win the two remaining games against Pakistan and New Zealand if they aspire for another appearance in the final.

India maintained an all-win record in last years four matches against Pakistan,and those included the preliminary league matches in the World Cup in New Delhi and the Guangzhou Asian Games.

What happened in last years matches is now history,just as the earlier matches in this tournament. The boys are eager to perform well, he said.

Harendra,who was brought back as Indias coach after resigning in the wake of the loss to Malaysia in the semi-final of the Asian Games where he was the deputy to Spaniard Jose Brasa,said the young team had justified his faith in them.

Pakistan will be looking to reverse the tide against India,rankled by the four successive defeats against the sub-continental hockey rivals. Against India,we want to execute our plans in a better way that weve done so far, said Pakistan team manager Khawaja Junaid.

We look forward to coming back strongly in this match. The 1-5 loss to Australia on Monday was a good learning experience. Weve got to sort out our shortcomings, said Junaid,a former international player himself.

Pakistans team here includes most of the gold medalists from the Asian Games,but defence crumbled against Australia. As a group,weve missed a lot of chances. Weve been conceding a lot of soft goals and thats something we must not repeat in the next game, he said.