AMRITSAR, Oct 7: Down 1-3, India will have to raise their game in the penultimate match of hockey series in Amritsar on Friday to prevent arch-rivals Pakistan from running away with the title.

Amritsar, which will be hosting an Indo-Pak Test for the first time, is expected to see a riveting contest of supremacy as nothing short of a win will help cause of the teams.

A win for India, who have won one, drawn two and lost three matches, would give a boost to their chances of levelling eight-match series, last tie of which is to be played under floodlights in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Pakistan, who were hoping to wrap up series in previous match at Chandigarh, must be under pressure as a patchy performance in that match denied them the title. India must be considering them selves unlucky for not having scored winner in 1-1 draw in Chandigarh game despite getting a number of opportunities. And now to have any chance of winning the match, they must make a drastic improvement in their scoring abilities against a side that would also be keen to make amends for their sloppy display in the previous Test.

Captain Dilip Tirkey, who was hit on wrist and face in Indian leg opener in Delhi and missed Chandigarh game, will once again have to watch action from sidelines, which would mean that young defenders would have to burden extra responsibility.

India's German coach Gerhard Rach was worried by players' failure to convert chances, particularly penalty corners, but more than players he blamed a tight schedule for misses.

"In Athens we had little time to prepare for penalty corners. Here also we have no time to practice. We are just playing and travelling without any break," Rach said. "This is something which needs a lot of practising and it's not possible to improve without practice."

Indians are trying to take positives from Tuesday's draw as Barring scoring lapses, they did reasonably well in other aspects of the game with Viren Rasquinha admirably leading team in absence of Tirkey.

Most of the players - defenders, midfielders and forwards - had a good game as they played as a cohesive unit rarely giving their opnents a chance to dominate the game.

"It was a good game and team played with a lot of spirit. They must put in same effort in next match," Rasquinha said. "The forwards did not play well in Chandigarh but we are looking for a better show tomorrow. A win would seal fate of series in our favour," Pakistani right-winger Rehan Butt said. -PPI