BHUBANESWAR: The in-form Indian men’s hockey team hope to continue their momentum when they take on defending champions Australia in the first of two Pro League encounters on Friday. The hosts, who are in third place in the standings after four matches, have eight points. Australia, who began shakily against world champions Belgium, are in fifth place with six points. History favours the World No 2 but India coach Graham Reid says they are up for the challenge.
“There is not much difference in style of play between Belgium and Australia. However Australia like to play a very aggressive brand of hockey, but we are very well prepared to tackle that. We all believe that if we play according to our plans, we are confident that we will play like how we have done in the recent past.”India lost their second match against Belgium but Reid was of the opinion that they will perform better this time out. “The Pro league schedule is such that the second game is a turn around match. In the last match, we missed a few scoring chances against Belgium. We are sure we will come back with a better performance this time. It’s a mental challenge to get into the front again and again. My focus is on how can I change my team and stick to our plans.”
Australia coach Colin Batch said he will be using the match to experiment ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. “As this is the Olympic year, we want to try different combinations. We had started our preparation in the second week of January. It is always an advantage to play at home, they (India) are a strong team. We love playing against them in front of the crowd here (Kalinga Stadium).”The Kookaburras, according to statistics put out by Hockey Australia, have lost only 23 games against India. But India skipper Manpreet Singh says that could change because of familiar confines. “While entering the Kalinga Stadium, the crowd support gives us extra confidence. Our plan is to create chances and convert them into goals as quickly as possible.”The one significant piece of team news from the host perspective is that forward Mandeep Singh will be absent after he sustained an ankle injury. It is expected to keep him out for two weeks.