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Coach Harendra Wants Matches Against Other International Teams Or Neutral Venue For India-Pakistan Tests

Bangalore: Whether the tour to Pakistan materialises or not, Harendra Singh believes a diet of five international matches will stand the Indian hockey team in good stead ahead of the double leg four-nation in Chandigarh and Jalandhar.

The coach in-charge said if India cannot travel to Pakistan for the test series in January owing to security fears, the games ought to be organised at a neutral venue.

And, if the Pakistan Hockey Federation does not agree to the idea then India should look for practice matches with other countries. “It is vital that the boys get at least four or five matches against good teams ahead of the four-nation in January-February. It will give us a chance too to gauge the performance of the team. I will discuss this point with the ad-hoc committee next week,” Harendra told TOI on the last day of the camp on Friday.

The venue for the next camp, scheduled from December 5, too will depend on India’s tour programme in January. “If the government clears the Pakistan tour, the camp will be in Chandigarh. If not, the players return to Bangalore. The number of probables too will be brought down to 33.”

Harendra felt the boys made good progress in the opening camp. “Going by the physiological and bio-mechanical tests conducted in the first and last weeks of the camp, there is considerable improvement. The seniors have led from the front and that is evident in the dedication every player has shown.”

The camp focussed a lot on skills that the game demands on the international arena.

“Dribbling in the air, for example, was practised extensively. We had the players sharing their thoughts, giving their inputs as how to deal with pressure situations, as we felt that they would be in the best position to come up with solutions. In penalty corners, besides the usual routine of dragflicks, we gave the players eight indirect variations and asked to master at least five.”

The coaches also witnessed a presentation on video analysis but reserved their judgement saying that the software ought to be tested further at the camps.

The software, created by A Prasanna, who was the video analyst when Joaquim Carvalho was the chief coach, hasn’t quite convinced the coaches of its efficacy during a match, it is learnt.

“We do not want software for prematch analysis or a post mortem. We want the software to provide us with analytical material during a match. Women’s hockey coach MK Kaushik and I had a look at it yesterday. Kaushik will study more presentations from them before giving his views. We don’t want to rush through this because we need the best for Indian hockey ,” said Harendra.