DNA: Consistency is key for Indian hockey: Experts

Taus Rizvi

Indian’s bronze medal at the FIH Hockey World League Final might give the team some self-belief with a little less than a year to go for the FIH World Cup, but former Indian hockey stars feel that the third-place finish at the recently-concluded event could be misleading.

Former players believe there are still many areas the team needs to improve upon if they are to do well in next year’s World Cup.

“We should not look into positions where we are in. Positions can be a little bit misleading,” former hockey captain Viren Rasquinha said before playing an exhibition match during the inauguration of St. Stanislaus High School’s International Standard FIH approved “Father Donnely Astro Park” here on Sunday evening.

“For example, Belgium played five matches and won four yet they came fifth, while we won a match in regulation time only once (against Germany in bronze medal match).

“Right now, we are building up for the World Cup, and we should look at the progress and how we are playing. To be honest, there is a lot to improve,” Rasquinha added.

The legendary Dharanj Pillay remains optimistic ahead of the World Cup, but feels that there are still some grey areas.

“I think we played good hockey. During my time, Australia was a superpower. But today India can also take on Australia, Germany and Belgium. Fitness has improved but we need to concentrate on hitting and stopping. Player should know the basics like right timing, right passes, and when to release the ball,” said Pillay.

Rasquinha said the Indians will have to become a lot more consistent in order to improve.

“We did struggle a bit in quite a few of the matches. Against Australia we played well initially, after that it’s been only in patches. That’s the biggest challenge a coach faces — to get consistency. If we harbour hopes of winning a medal at the World Cup, then the team has to be consistent in over six-seven matches.

“Consistency is the key. We are not even consistent for the entire 60 minutes. We should look at that and then become consistent throughout the tournament,” said Rasquinha.

The 37-year-old Rasquinha, a skillful midfielder in his times, said India have to remain disciplined on several counts.

“We need to have tactical discipline which the coach sets. There are missed passes on certain occasions, we hold the ball too much, we are not disciplined in short corners. Individual and team discipline is important,” he said.Former player and coach Joaquim Carvalho said the players need to step up in crunch situations.

“We need to bag the crunch situations in big games. We need to have the ambition to win every game. We need to aspire to be consistently on the podiums at majors events like the World Cup and the Olympics,” he said.