India v China on Thursday Is No Formality: China Scored Four Against Malaysia and They Won’t Park the Bus
If anyone in Jalandhar thinks Thursday night is a procession, they didn’t watch China’s first game. India play China at 6:30pm PKT on Thursday 29 October, back in the evening slot at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium. The defending champions, chasing a sixth Asian Champions Trophy title, come in off a 13-0 demolition of Bangladesh. Harmanpreet Singh scored twice, Mandeep Singh got a hat-trick, and India finished opening day top of the table with a goal difference of plus 13. That’s the form line. Here’s the warning label.
China lost their opener 5-4 to Malaysia. Read that again. They scored four goals against the Asian Games silver medallists and lost by one. A team that scores four in a game like that doesn’t come to Jalandhar to sit back and hope. China reached the final of the previous edition of this tournament, and whatever else you say about them, they know how to stay in games against the best sides in Asia. India will have to defend properly for the first time in this tournament, because China will test them in a way Bangladesh simply couldn’t.
Thursday’s full card builds nicely. Malaysia play South Korea at 2:00pm PKT, Bangladesh play Japan at 4:15pm PKT, and then India against China closes the night. In a six-team round robin where four go through, the second game is where the table starts to take real shape. Win your first two and you’re nearly there. Lose, and you’re relying on other results by the weekend.
India’s context adds another layer. Manpreet Singh is out of the tournament with a calf injury and Vivek Sagar Prasad has come into the squad, so the midfield has already had to adjust once. Harmanpreet, Mandeep, Jarmanpreet Singh and Dilpreet Singh all came through Jalandhar’s Surjit Hockey Academy, so this is a homecoming as much as a title defence. The crowd will be loud. It should be. But the loudest nights are the ones where the visitors refuse to fold, and China have already shown they don’t fold.
For our money, India still win this. They’re deeper, they’re at home, and 13 goals in an opener is not an accident. But if China score first, this becomes a very different evening, and nobody should be surprised if it does.
Related links:
https://sportscursor.com/india-13-0-bangladesh-mandeep-hat-trick-asian-champions-trophy-27-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/asian-champions-trophy-2026-day-1-results-malaysia-5-4-china-japan-3-2-korea-27-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/asian-champions-trophy-table-day-1-india-malaysia-japan-27-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/asian-champions-trophy-rest-day-wednesday-india-china-thursday-27-october-2026/
https://sportscursor.com/live/
