Harmanpreet’s Hat-Trick Seals It: India Beat Malaysia 4-2 to Stay Perfect at the ACT
Harmanpreet Singh does not do quiet nights. The India captain scored a hat-trick in Jalandhar on Sunday as the defending champions beat Malaysia 4-2, and with it India made it four wins from four at the Asian Champions Trophy. Both sides were already through to the semi-finals before the first whistle. This was about top spot, pride, and a message before Mohali. India sent it loud and clear.
It started the way so many India games start in this tournament: a Harmanpreet penalty corner, buried. Three minutes in, 1-0. Malaysia, to their credit, did not fold. Akhimullah Anuar levelled from a penalty corner of his own in the 25th minute, and at 1-1 this was a proper contest, two unbeaten sides going at each other.
Then Harmanpreet struck again in the 33rd minute, another penalty corner, and the game tilted. Sukhjeet Singh made it 3-1 in the 43rd minute with a cracking reverse-stick finish on the counter, and suddenly Malaysia were chasing the game. They kept coming, as they always do, and Shello Silverius pulled one back in the final minute. But by then Harmanpreet had already completed his hat-trick, a 58th-minute penalty stroke, and the result was done.
The hat-trick takes Harmanpreet to eight goals for the tournament. That’s the captain leading from the front in every sense, and it’s a big reason India look like the team to beat going into the knockouts.
Sunday’s other results settled the rest of the semi-final race. Japan drew 2-2 with China in the day’s second game, and that point was enough to send Japan through. China led early through Zhang Jialiang in the 8th minute, Japan turned it around with Raiki Fujishima’s penalty corner in the 48th and Yuma Nagai’s field goal seconds later, and then Chen Benhai equalised for China from a penalty corner in the final minute. A draw that suited Japan perfectly and left China still searching for a first win.
So the final four are set: India, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, who beat Bangladesh 5-0 earlier on Sunday. The table now reads India 12 points, Malaysia 9, Japan 7, Korea 6, China 1, Bangladesh 0. Monday’s last league day, China against Bangladesh, Malaysia against Japan and India against Korea, decides the semi-final pairings and who finishes where, but it can’t change the four names going to Mohali.
For our money, India go there as favourites, and it’s not close. Four wins, 26 goals scored, and a captain scoring hat-tricks in the big games. Malaysia will fancy their chances of meeting India again in Thursday’s final, but on Sunday’s evidence they’d need something special to turn a 4-2 defeat around.
Related:
- https://sportscursor.com/asian-champions-trophy-sunday-card-malaysia-india-korea-bangladesh-china-japan-1-november-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/korea-5-0-bangladesh-act-semi-race-1-november-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/sunday-1-november-hockey-diary-act-chl-murugappa-hoofdklasse-belgium-2026/
- https://sportscursor.com/live/
- https://sportscursor.com/latest-news/
