ROURKELA: After India thwarted Spain on shootouts to win their Pro League encounter on Monday night, PR Sreejesh threw most of his gear into the Rourkela night sky. Even for a guy known for theatrics as much as for his excellent skills under the bar, the custodian had been in a rarified zone. During regulation time, he came up with the goods multiple times. In an unusually flawless shootout that followed after the hosts had drawn their opponents 2-2, the goalkeeper managed to deny Marc Miralles with the score at 8-7.
It once again highlighted the unique and sometimes understated genius that Sreejesh has brought to the shiny blue canvas for close to the last decade. Having made his debut at a time when the coaching techniques weren't the greatest, he had to unlearn most of what he had been taught as a kid. Since he became first-choice for the national team, it's been a story of constant evolution.
How did he do it? "After 2012, I relearnt my basics," he says before a training session at the Birsa Munda hockey stadium on Sunday. "That was the toughest time for me. How you stand, where you keep your hands... in India, you need to keep your hand like (Palm open, chest high) or you just move all the time. We never had goalkeepers who learnt modern techniques. They learnt that 1+1 is four and taught us that. But no, 1+1 is two. So it took time to learn that. Dave (South Africa's Dave Staniforth) changed the basics. Dennis (Netherlands' Dennis van de Pol) came after that."
Earlier, goalkeepers used to be viewed through a separate prism. 10 + goalkeeper. These days, not so much. "Earlier, we used to be sent to a corner and they told us 'ball aaega, toh kuch kar (when the ball comes, do something)'. Now, it's changed a lot. We are involved in team meetings, planning, defensive organisation... we behave like a coach."
The other aspect of keeping himself up to date is pouring over videos to see the latest trends for himself. "It's more about research," he says. "What are teams focusing on?" He cites the example of how penalty corner defending has evolved over the decades. "When PCs started, goalies rushed. In response, flickers used the back door -- pass the ball behind to a teammate who would take a shot. You started working on that."
For a long time, among Indian keepers, Sreejesh did this the best. While other keepers may have brought the same sort of dedication and work ethic to the craft of goalkeeping, they weren't able to marry that with on-field performances. Hence, one oft-asked question used to linger: who after Sreejesh?
These days, it has sort of died down because of the emergence of Krishan Pathak, part of the junior World Cup-winning team in 2016. While Sreejesh had to bide his time before becoming the undisputed No. 1 for the senior, there is no concept of that these days. It's just first among equals.
It's because Craig Fulton -- and his predecessor, Graham Reid -- have taken to changing their goalkeepers once every quarter. "It's a good thing for us," Sreejesh says. "This is the kind of preparation (you need) and it's tactical also. You cannot do things overnight so you need to practice accordingly and that's what we have been doing."
There are several advantages in this system. You guard against the threat of injuries because the No. 2 is match-ready. So, they are already used to the pressure and expectations of performing. They are also used to the systems. "It's a goalkeeper's duty," is how Pathak puts it. "More than doing it naturally (setting the defensive structure), we have to learn that. We weren't used to it in the junior days because the focus was mostly on our performances. But it's important to guide from the back for a team to tick."
As far as the Indian men's team is concerned, one can even make a case that both have grown in the company of each other. In fact, one of Pathak's first coaches was Sreejesh (he was mentor-cum-goalkeeping coach at the 2016 Junior World Cup). "Before we came into the team, we used to watch Sree Bhai train," he says. "We learnt a lot from watching him. From watching him to playing with him, it's been a big learning phase." Guru and Shishya, perhaps.
With roughly five months to go for the Olympics, one of the first decisions that the coach and the support staff will have to handle is who among Sreejesh or Pathak will be on the bus (16 man squads will likely mean place for only one goalkeeper). Will it be the teacher? Or the student.