BHUBANESWAR: Whenever an elite visiting coach speaks to India’s hockey reporters about the country’s hockey culture, they wax eloquent. They would speak about history. However, they would always speak about it in the past tense. Sure, ‘they are a dangerous side’ but they are also a side ‘capable of making silly mistakes’.
By and large, this was the prevailing sentiment during the World Cup in 2018. In fact, one of the defining moments of that tournament was Max Caldas laughing his head off while listening to Harendra Singh’s press conference after the host nation were dumped out by the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. On Sunday, Caldas did not laugh.
He summed up India’s performances on Saturday and Sunday in one sentence. “They are a good team.” Indeed. If Saturday’s 5-2 win was a heavy metal gig, Sunday’s 3-3 draw (followed by a 3-1 win in the shootout) was like a Hans Zimmer concert — a lilting piece followed by a thrilling crescendo. This is not to suggest that the World No 5 — whose next Pro League assignment is against the World champions Belgium in three weeks’ time — outclassed their opposition on both days.
“We”, coach Graham Reid freely accepted, “struggled today (Sunday). To win and to keep getting better and better, you have to do that. You have to struggle because that’s how you learn. We will get some good things to come out of the game tonight. So long as we learn from those, that’s a positive thing. It was good to comeback in the second half, it’s good to know that you can do that.”
That summation, in a nutshell, was the most pleasing aspect of the weekend from an Indian perspective. India missed a raft of chances in the opening quarters and paid the price for their profligacy as the visitors struck thrice in four surreal second-quarter minutes.
Under previous coaches, they might have reverted to type. Here, they displayed character and rediscovered their mojo in the second half. The World No 3 had the chance to put the game out of sight after Manpreet Singh was shown a yellow card (10 minutes in the sin bin) in the third quarter. For the entirety of that duration, the hosts cut out the errors, stayed compact at the back and won their tackles.
The senior players assumed responsibility — something they have been accused of not doing often in the past — realising there was still a game to be won. In the final quarter, that plan bore fruit as Mandeep Singh and Rupinderpal Singh, a man who looks rejuvenated under the new regime, scored to level the match with five minutes left. It wasn’t just the goal-scorers who assumed responsibility, custodian PR Sreejesh made a few telling saves as well to keep his team in the match.
“The responsibility, at the end of the day, will have to be taken by senior players,” man of the match Rupinder said after the match.
“Forward Mandeep, Manpreet in midfielder and me in defence, we have to coordinate and support each other to keep the team intact.” The defender also agreed with the assessment that the result would have been a different story a few years ago.
“A couple of years ago, we would have conceded more goals had we been (in a similar situation). But players are getting matured and experienced with every match and that’s why you see the change in the attitude of the team.”
The 29-year-old’s assertion was backed by several examples over two hours of hockey. Players did make mistakes on both days but rather than point fingers, they worked together as a unit to troubleshoot to contain the problem. The immediate consequence of senior players thriving under pressure and not hiding is visible. They were expected to lose twice against Netherlands in 24 hours.
Instead, they will run into Belgium knowing they can repeat this. Saying all that, caveat emptor. Indian hockey has given way to too many false dawns. The two matches against Belgium will reveal more into whether this weekend was an exception to the norm or the new normal.