CHENNAI: For 45 minutes and three quarters, the Indian hockey team put forth its best Mr. Hyde impersonation. Passes were overhit or undercooked, midfield was non-existent and players lost possession even when the opposition was nowhere in the vicinity. Then, PR Sreejesh, whose initiation as coach has seen him prefer a bird's eye view of the game because of the viewpoint it offers, read the team the riot act.
He let it rip, called the performance unacceptable and asked his wards 'to show some energy'. He had, to borrow a phrase from the world of football coaching, given his players the hairdryer treatment. Such a reaction was merited because the hosts were in danger of exiting the tournament through the backdoor. Trailing 0-2 to Argentina with one quarter remaining, they had not produced a single noteworthy moment in attack or defence. The energy, something Sreejesh had mentioned in that huddle, was missing.
That's when the comeback began. Knowing they had 15 minutes to make or break the junior World Cup, they roared forward. Egged on by the capacity crowd, they charged into tackles, moved forward with gay abandon and harried their opponents into submission when out possession. The end result was a fightback for the ages. In the final 15 minutes, they created plenty of overloads, converted three penalty corners (for a side whose efficiency was down this whole tournament, it's worthy to point this out that they made it count when there was a dire need to make it count), scored another from a penalty stroke and won out 4-2 winners to win the bronze medal, the first time they have medalled in this event since winning it in 2016.
It was a physical manifestation of the 'call the ambulance but not for me' meme.
When India reduced the deficit to make 1-2 via Ankit Pal, the contest fundamentally changed. The visitors, who were largely untroubled apart from a period when they conceded four penalty corners to begin the third quarter, began to creak. Do we sit and protect the one-goal lead or do we continue pressing our opponents and look to restore the two-goal lead? That was the dilemma they were facing.
In the end, they opted to do neither. And they couldn't live with India's intensity and pace. A special word of praise must also go to Arshdeep Singh who came into his own in the fourth quarter with his stickwork and quick feet. He earned India two penalty corners in three minutes and they converted both of them to restore parity.
Suddenly, the crowd had come alive. The capacity crowd found their voice again after being lulled into silence for the first three quarters. This had transformed into a different game. If their passing game in the first three quarters resembled a fire-cracker left out in the cold for way too long, it was now filled with purpose. Crisp and to the point.
"When you are down two nil, the game is almost done," Sreejesh said after the game. 'But the players trusted themselves. They came up with opportunities and converted them. It's a process, you need to trust it, you need to trust your teammates. They started to believe in themselves."
It's why that first goal made a huge difference to both camps. It gave India belief that this match wasn't dead; it also created jeopardy for the visitors.
After making it 2-2, India, roared on by a very partisan crowd, again thanks to Arshdeep, earned a stroke, duly converted by Shardanand Tiwari. With the clock running down, Argentina removed their keeper as they went in search of the equaliser. But with belief coursing through their veins, the hosts went in search of another goal and duly finished the game.
There will be analysis -- how many from this set-up may make the step-up and whether Sreejesh could be the answer to an elite-level Indian coach -- but on a night like this, attempting to do any analysis is an exercise in futility.
