K. ARUMUGAM

Indian and Germany have a long cherished history in the field of hockey. Some matches like the Berlin Olympics final have become folklore stuff, needs no elaboration.  Whatever the India’s positioning in the world of hockey in its early years — 1920s to 1960s when India was a colossal force — Germany has been a tough challenger to its supremacy. On the context both teams playing a well publicized bilateral series, am presenting here an interesting facet of their hockey heritage: Comparing India’s first ten and last ten matches between the two powerhouse of field hockey. First 10 encounters happened in the grass era and the last ten, obviously, on synthetic turf.

INFERENCE:   India won just 3 matches while drawing 6 and losing 1 in the first ten meets that had taken place in the space of 35 years. However, India posted seven wins and three loses in the last ten matches (2017 to 2024 Paris), spanning 8 years.

1932 India beat 6-0
1936 India beat 8-1
1956 India beat 1-0
1959 drew 1-1
1962 drew 1-0
1962 drew 0-0
1962 drew 1-1
1963 drew 1-1
1966 drew 1-1
1967 lost 1-3

The last ten meets between India and Germany proves that modern day Indian teams have better success rate than their legends’ era.

04.12.2017 HWL F        0–2
10.12.2017 HWL F        2 –1
01.08.2021 Olympics   5 –4
14.04.2022 Proleague  3 –0
15.04.2022 Proleague  3 –1
10.03.2023 Proleague  3 –2
13.03.2023 Proleague  6 –3
01.06.2024 Proleague  3 –0
08.06.2024 Proleague  2 –3
06.08.2024 Olympics   2 –3

Can we believe modern Indian teams are better than the Golden Era ones insofar as India-Germany contests are concerned?

Had we only beaten them in Paris semifinal!