Teenage forward Dilpreet Singh scored a hat-trick for the Indians in a man-of-the-match winning performance at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.

Lalit Upadhyay broke the deadlock in the 17th minute, opening the floodgates for a goal-fest.

Also on target were Harmanpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Varun Kumar and Chinglensana Singh.

The emphatic win puts India top of the round-robin standings with Malaysia second by virtue of goal difference after they posted an impressive 3-0 victory over Japan in the opening encounter of the competition.

Faizal Saari sent a drag flick into the net to open the scoring in the third minute and Tengku Tajuddin capitalised on a rebound from the goalkeeper on Malaysia’s second penalty corner in the ninth minute to put his country on course to avenge their loss in the final of the recent Asian Games in Indonesia.

Japan fought back to create some chances in the second-quarter but they failed to convert them.

Saari thwarted any chance of Japan’s fight-back with a deft 51st minute penalty stroke awarded on a Malaysian referral.

"We were motivated to start with a good performance," Malaysia captain Sukri Mutalib said.

"The Asian Games is now behind us.

"On our way to the World Cup, we want to do well here."

Japan skipper Genki Mitani admitted his players felt the pressure of being the Asian Games champions going into the match.

"We sure felt some pressure from being the Asian Games gold medallists, but we can handle that pressure," he said.

Round-robin action in Muscat is due to continue tomorrow with two-time winners Pakistan facing South Korea and Oman going up against Malaysia.