India had absolutely no trouble in getting past a hapless Bangladesh 6-0 and became the first team to confirm their place in the semifinals from Pool B in the seventh Asia Cup hockey here on Tuesday.

It was not the best of performances from the Indian team, who had played a superb game against South Korea on Monday. This takes India's points tally to 12 points from four wins.

Not at their best

India were not in the best of form in the first half. There were many, many chances the forwards created. That showed that they were still pumped up after Monday's win. There was a rush and vigour in the way the Indians attacked and they were all over the Bangladesh striking circle every other moment.

But then, that was were the problem lay. The rival defence put up a great show and thwarted the Indians on several occasions, sometimes even stopping direct drag flicks at the goalline.

However, in the second half, they showed a lot more application, obviously realising that they needed to pull up their socks. India were back to their best and pumped in five more to crush their rivals.

Brace apiece

V R Raghunath and Prabhjot Singh scored two goals each for India, while Tushar Khandekar and Shivendra Singh struck one each.

Indian chief coach Joaquim Carvalho said: “After yesterday's match against Korea, the boys were a bit tired. In such a frame of mind, one tends to miss chances. But at half time, I told them to pull up their socks."

Things are getting interesting in Pool B since Korea and China have six points each. But Korea have a better goal difference. So a draw will be enough for Korea against China but the latter has to win.

Malaysia down Japan

Later, Malaysia blanked Japan 2-0 in Pool A. The hero of the Malaysian win was undoubtedly their goalkeeper Kumar Subremamaniam, who saved at least half-a-dozen goals. Every time the Japanese tried an attack, the Malaysian defence stood firm. If the Japanese did get past the rival defenders, it was man of the match Subremamaniam who did the needful.

Malaysia played a determined game on Tuesday. Initially, Malaysia were marked man-to-man and they found the going tough after Ismail Abu scored the first goal in the very first minute. He managed to slap the ball into the goal following a goalmouth melee.

Subsequently, it was just midfield action. The rare Malaysian foray was there but the attempts were half-hearted. With Japan, there were hardly any attacks in the first half. Japan hardly displayed the sharp passing like they did during their upset win over Pakistan .

Much later, in the 41st minute, Azlon Misron scored to make it 2-0 for Malaysia. Ahmad Tajuddin made a searing run from the right flank and relayed the ball to Misron, who was right in front of the goal. Misron made no mistakes in scoring.

In this pool, Malaysia are on top with nine points from three wins. Three-times champions Pakistan have six points from two wins.

Results: Pool A: Hong Kong 3 (Gurvinder Dillon 24th, Arif Ali 60th PC, Bal Harinder Singh 68th) bt Singapore 2 (Saifulnizam Bin Mohammad 7th PC, Hazmi Bin Mohammad 54th PC); Malaysia 2 (Ismail Abu 1st, Azlon Misron 41st) bt Japan 0.

Pool B: India 6 (V R Raghunath 31st, 66th PC, Tushar Khandekar 37th, Shivendra Singh 38th, Prabhjot Singh 49th, 57th) bt Bangladesh 0.

Wednesday's matches: Thailand vs Sri Lanka (3.00 pm); Korea vs China (5.00 pm); Pakistan vs Malaysia (7.00 pm).