Malians

Can someone explain to me what Malians are good at? I get that they have some great eco bonuses and have a wide open tech tree. But I wound up with them against someone playing Indians and had no idea what to do. It went to the late game and I had pikemen against heavy camel (with no blast furnace obviously), didn’t work. What should I have done instead? Tried to end the game earlier? What are Malians strong at that that I’m missing? (1400 elo for reference)