RAJGIR, Sept. 5 -- Craig Fulton had to deal with a barrage of questions from the media regarding the open chances missed by India strikers in their 2-2 draw against South Korea on Wednesday. Trailing for two-thirds of the game, the chief coach had defended the forward line, saying, "It's a team effort. The strikers can't get the ball themselves. Someone has to give it to them." Though the South African didn't name anyone, it is obvious that the midfield was being singled out. However, just a day later, the same midfield became the team's most potent force as the hosts defeated Malaysia 4-1 at the Bihar Sports University Hockey Stadium. Led by former skipper Manpreet Singh, the midfield made sure most of the match was played in the Malaysian half, creating several chances, which were converted, to hand India their first convincing win of the tournament. Two midfielders - Manpreet (17th) and Vivek Sagar Prasad (38th) - sounded the board along with goals from strikers Sukhjeet Singh (19th) and Shilanand Lakra (24th) after Malaysian Shafiq Hassan (2nd) opened the scoring. Malaysia, who were undefeated coming into the match, stunned India with a second minute strike through Hassan. But an undeterred India pressed from the start. Upcoming midfielder Rajinder Singh, being touted as Manpreet's replacement whenever the veteran decides to hang up his boots, took forward the attack, looking for the equaliser. Rajinder, Manpreet and Hardik Singh made good use of short passes to glide past the Malaysian midfield and defence, especially when the world No.12 outfit were trying to slow down the game. Rajinder made good use of his 3D skills to make multiple in-roads - a total of 12 circle penetrations - into the Malaysian striking circle. Prasad, Raj Kumar Pal and Rajinder controlled the game in the midfield with Player-of-the-Match Manpreet taking the playmaker's duty on his shoulders to launch several counterattacks. One of them finally yielded the leveller as the former India skipper, playing his 407th international, scored his first goal since the 2023 Asian Games final where India beat Japan 5-1. On a fifth successive PC, Harmanpreet struck right into the body of Malaysia goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman. But Manpreet used all his experience to pounce and tap the ball in to draw level. Manpreet, the midfield and India found a spring in their step with the goal to pound the Malaysian defence with more attacks. The energy never went down as Fulton maintained fluidity with regular substitutions. In no time, Rajinder pushed in a beautiful ball from the midfield to Abhishek who passed it to Shilanand. The comeback man bluffed two Malaysian defenders with a lovely back stick pass to Sukhjeet, who put it past Othman, as the home team went into the lead. India's passing was a lot more clinical than it had been earlier in the tournament as Hardik created another beautiful ball from the midfield to Shilanand, who dived in to put India 3-1 ahead. In the third quarter, Jugraj Singh's drag-flick was disallowed by Othman with the ball going to Manpreet. Manpreet made brilliant use of his peripheral vision to evade three defenders as he ran along the goalline before noticing an unmarked Prasad in front of the goal. Prasad was at the right place at the right time as he tapped in to put India 4-1 ahead, way beyond Malaysia's reach. Fulton's team was a much more disciplined unit too, with only one card being awarded. A clinical show from India's midfield also made the entire team look a much more fluid unit to play their best hockey yet in this tournament, earning their first win of Super 4s....