India’s women’s hockey team heads for a six Test match tour of New Zealand as they look to prepare for the FIH World League Round 2 tournament to be played in New Delhi in February. In an interview with Sportline on the eve of the team’s departure, head coach Neil Hawgood spoke about the the progress made in recent months and the challenges ahead. Excerpts:

It has been five months since you have been in-charge of the women’s team? How has the team shaped up so far?

It has improved a lot. One of the first things that we did was to make them understand that it’s better to train for less time with more intensity than vice-versa. So, instead of 19-20 sessions a week, we have 11 session now. The girls also have stopped equating quantity with quality. There is a marked improvement in their fitness level from when I joined, at the same time, there’s scope for more. It’s not where it ought to be — on par with the top teams — and in that regard. . Ben Dascombe (team’s exercise physiologist) is doing a great job with the team, but we have a long way to go.

Where do you rate India’s performance in the eight-nation Champions Challenge Cup in Dublin in October?

It was okay. We lost the second round match to Scotland on penalty shootout after a few of our players were sent off. We did not finish where we should have. But it was for the first time the team was playing under new rules. Probably the girls took some time to adjust. The experience was important though.

Before the Dublin event, you had said that India didn’t have enough bench strength. A few domestic tournaments have happened since, is new talent coming up?

We hardly had any bench, just 18 players. Things are changing now. There were 18-19 junior girls at the camp in Bhopal recently. It was a big learning curve for them. For five weeks, they underwent a similar training programme as the senior team.

Which players, in this current Indian team, you have special expectations from in the upcoming New Zealand Test series?

I don’t have expectations from individuals, but I hope as a group we do better than what we did in Dublin. It’s a young team and there have been five changes in the side. We will get a good idea of where we stand. The Kiwis have a good side. We have selected a competitive side and hopefully we will perform well. We will look to work on set-pieces and penalty corners in the two months we have before the FIH World League Round 2 Tournament in Delhi in February.