India scored twice in each half to drub Malaysia 4-1 in the first junior hockey 'Test' in Delhi on Tuesday.
Captain V S Vinay led the goal spree, opening the account in the eighth minute before Girish Pimpale (12th minute and 62nd minutes) and Tushar Khandekar (56th minute) completed the formalities for the hosts at the Shivaji stadium.
Malaysia, who struggled throughout for ball control and erred in trapping, scored their lone goal through P Prabhakaran in the 21st minute.
It was an impressive showing by the Indian juniors, particularly Pimplay, Khandekar, Vinay and Nitin Kumar, who put into play all their experience to give India a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
Both teams preferred to play an attacking game and all the five goals followed some good moves.
India could have won the match by a bigger margin but for some fine goal keeping by Malaysia's Mohd Hanazi Hasang, who brought off at least three fine saves.
Both teams earned two penalty-corners apiece but failed to convert them although Sandeep Singh came close to scoring with his drag-flick in the second half.
Sandeep, who wasted the first penalty corner when he failed to control the push properly, made a searing hit at the Malaysian post in the 49th minute, but an alert Malaysian goalkeeper palmed away the ball to safety.
In the first half, Hanazi showed his quick reflexes while thwarting a fierce shot by Nitin Kumar from the top of the circle.
India went ahead after Vinay dodged several defenders inside the circle and beat the goalkeeper.
Soon after Pimplay made it 2-0 when he netted in a long cross from Nitin Kumar.
Malaysia's only goal was the result of an excellent reverse flick that beat the Indian goalkeeper all ends up.
Prabhakaran's shot from the left gave no clue to keeper Adrian D'Souza, who otherwise had a good outing.
But India stamped their authority with two second half goals that sealed the fate of the match.
Pimpale and Khandekar combined well to storm past the Malaysian defence for India's third goal which was followed by a solo effort from Pimpale.
The second match of the series will be played tomorrow and the third on March 5 in Delhi.
The fourth match will be played in Chandigarh on March 7.
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