Dean Couzins of New Zealand (right) and Seo Jong-ho of South Korea vie for the ball during their Azlan Shah Cup match in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. ( AFP)

Kuala Lumpur: With three defeats in a row and just four points to show from five games, the Indian team, under a new coach, could not have fared any worse.

The ongoing Azlan Shah Cup has yet again exposed the chinks in the Indian team. And there may be some more woes around the corner when India take on Olympic champions Australia in their last preliminary match on Friday.

A last-gasp win over minnows South Africa in the opening encounter notwithstanding, India, playing with several players with absolutely no or little international experience, has so far struggled to find their feet at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

They struggled to a 2-2 draw against New Zealand before crashing to humiliating losses to Malaysia, South Korea and Pakistan.

And the way things stand now, the team members need to play out of their skin against Australia just to salvage some pride.

The Indians, who were mauled by both Korea and hosts Malaysia, showed glimpses of fighting spirit in the match against traditional rivals Pakistan on Wednesday.

But it came too late as it failed to undo the damage caused by a sorry display in the first-half during which Pakistan scored three goals to make the issue safe for them.

The eight-time Olympic champions have several rookies who would be tested to the fullest by the experienced Australians.

Two of the senior-most forwards ? Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh ? have struggled for the better part of the tournament with the former, playing the first tournament since the Athens Olympics, clearly off-colour in almost all the matches.

Prabhjot, another player making a comeback since the Olympics debacle, has done no justice to his reputation, failing to find his goal-scoring touch wasting sitters at crucial junctures.

The burden of leading a team of inexperienced players seemed to have taken a toll on captain Dilip Tirkey who had made a number of errors at his favourite full-back position, unusual for a player of his calibre.

Tirkey would be finding it difficult to relax ahead of Friday’s tie with Australia making their intentions clear.

“We are getting there (to the final). We have a tough match against India coming up and we know we have to win if we are to reach the final,” Australian coach Barry Dancer said.

Australia are yet to lose a match in the prestigious tournament though they had split points with South Korea and Pakistan.

Korea beat NZ

Asian Games winners South Korea survived plenty of anxious moments before overcoming a determined New Zealand 6-4 on Thursday.

Korea, trailing 2-3 at the break, came back with a strong finish to emerge the winners. They now have 10 points and play their last fixture against South Africa on Friday.

The table is interestingly poised now with Pakistan and Australia in the forefront with Korea for Sunday’s final.

Pakistan, with 13 points, need only a draw against Malaysia for the final’s slot.

Australia must win against India as that would take them to 14 points while Korea can manage to reach 13 if they beat South Africa. Korea found their rhythm in the second session.

(PTI)