2009 IN PERSPECTIVE: Four proud Indian hockey players crossed thier 100th international caps

Review of the year gone by throw up some interesting insights

* India played 47 matches in 2009, 21 matches more than previous year.

* Only 4 players participated in 40 or more matches.

* The privileged foursome are: Gurbaj Singh (45), Tushar Khandker (43), Prabhjot and Rajpal Singh 40 caps each.

* 8 players had caps between 30 and 39, 7 players between 20 and 29. There are also 7 players who played less than 10 matches.

* Two stars did not play after the disastrous Asia Cup, Dilip Tirkey and Baljit Singh.

* India took part in 8 events in 2009 (considering all four Test Series during the Europe Tour as single), and only three players figured in all these.

* The privileged threesome are Adrian D’Souza, Gurbaj and Tushar to earn a decent continuity honour.

* Sandeep Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Rajpal Singh, Shivender Singh, Bharat Chikara, Vikram Pillay and Arjun Halappa missed a solitary engagement to miss out from this continuity list.

* On the obverse side, Bimal Lakra, Diwakarram, Dharamvir Singh, Ravipal Singh, Amir Md. Khan played just in a token event. This is surprising as some like Bimal and Diwakar are proven materials.

* In all, 33 players represented India which is marginally less than previous year’s number of 37.

* Lot of personal milestones have been made by players.

* Goalkeeper Baljit Singh just got his 50th cap but could not continue further due to eye injury he suffered during preparatory training before the Europe tour.

* Bharat Chikara crossed his 50th cap and at the end of 2009 his tally is 56.

* SV Sunil also crossed his 50th barrier before not considered for India cap after the Europe tour.

* The four exciting player of contemporary scene — Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Shivender Singh and VS Vinaya — made 2009 memorable with their personal century of international caps. A great achievement the media world missed out completely for want of ready made statistics of course.

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