Faisal Saari made his debut in the Hockey India League but failed to inspire his team Mumbai Magicians as they went down 2-1 to Delhi Waveriders at the Dhayan Chand National Hockey Stadium in New Delhi.
And after the match, Faisal admitted that it was not one of his better performances as he could have played better.
But the dimunitive striker who has carved a name for himself at the international arena said that being on the field for short spells of three minutes each time had affected his performance.
Faisal and Glenn Turner took turns to be on the pitch, with each playing just three minutes before substituting each other.
"I am not happy with my performance and feel I should have done better. I had a word with coach Ric Charlesworth about the short spells that both I and Glenn had on the pitch and he said that it will be different in the next game on Friday when we play Ranchi Rhinos," said Faisal after the match.
"I had to play wide, either on the left or right but that are the tactics adopted by the coach and frankly it helps me put variation into my style of play.
"It is important that I learn as much as I can and I hope to perform better and lift my game, maybe even net a goal in the next game.
"I will give my best on the pitch in order to lift the name of Malaysia in international hockey."
For coach Charlesworth, the defeat was attributed his inability to field the four Pakistani players in the match.
And even the penalty stroke miss by Sandeep Singh in the 69th minute said Charlesworth due to the fact that it was his fifth choice flicker that had stepped forward to take the stroke.
"Really I do not know when the replacements will arrive as I have made the choice and its up to the management to make the arrangements to get them here," said Charlesworth.
"It is unfair to name them as they have visa and other arrangements to sort out and I hope it will be done soon.
"We had five penalty corners but did not have a decet stopper as the best stoppers were the Pakistanis. But I am proud of the performance of the players given that we were four short."
