The Malaysian Under-21 squad stumbled to a humbling 5-2 defeat to India in their opening of The Sultan of Johor Cup 2022 match at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Baru today. The hosts looked second best from the start as India dominated from the start, taking the lead through a well-worked field goal by Amandeep Singh in the sixth minute. India dominated posession as Malaysia seeemed unsettled and the runners-up in the previous two editions attacked in waves, probing for a second goal, which came off 10th minute a penalty corner rebound which fell into the path of Araijeet Singh Hundal who slotted home from close range. Malaysia were limited to just two penetrations into the Indian semi-circle in the first quarter, but they managed to score from the second one, which came with a touch of good fortune, when a Muhammad Danish Aiman Khairil Anuar cross from the left flank in the 13th minute missed everyone but struck the umpire and fell into the path of Shahmie Irfan Suhaimi for a tap in from close range as Malaysia looked to keep the deficit low. India then started the second quarter as they did the first, upping the tempo and pushing Malaysia to the wall with their speed and variations in attack often seeing the Malaysians backpeddling. A quick succession of field goals by Bobi Singh Dhami and Sudeep Chirmako in the 20th and 26th minutes respectively saw the teams head into half-time with India holding a comfortable 4-1 lead. Malaysia came out in the second half looking more composed and focused on first containing the Indian domination, in which they succeeded, but their search for a second goal to reduce the deficit was not forthcoming as the third quarter ended without any extension to the scoreline. Malaysia's push for a second goal dragged on in the final quarter and it finally came in the 52nd minute. It was a straightforward penalty corner that saw Muhammad Amirul Haniff Mamat's well-placed flick head straight into the bottom right corner of Malik Ankit's goal. That shook India right back into action again and they restored the three-goal margin in the 56th minute from a penalty corner conversion by Sharda Nand Tiwari. Malaysia's coach Muhamad Amin Rahim said he was satisfied with his young team's performance despite the defeat against a much more experienced Indian side. "I am satisfied with the performance given that this squad is made up of players who are without international experience, playing against a formidable and experienced side like India," said Amin. "We started off quite nervous, but then when the players settled down and played our game, especially in the third quarter, we could see them executing directions and matching India. We can definitely build from here and improve further as we go through the tournament and that begins when we face Australia tomorrow. "We will have a look at video analysis and learn from this and also analyse Australia's game in order to plan for our match tomorrow. We've already played Australia ina friendly which we lost 4-1, so we roughly know what they are about, so we hope for a better result tomorrow." In earlier matches, Australia beat Japan 3-2, while defending champions Great Britain sit atop the table after they beat South Africa 4-1. Tomorrow's matches see Japan take on Great Britain at 4pm, before India play South Africa at 6pm. Malaysia's match against Australia is at 8.35pm.