HI overruling Brasa’s decision is questioned

Some of the players are peeved at the “arbitrary” decision taken by Hockey India (HI) in appointing Rajpal Singh as captain after the team management announced that Prabhjot Singh would lead the Indian team in the World Cup starting here Feb 28.

A couple of seniors are planning to raise the issue at the daily strategy meeting before the practise session. The meeting normally is held late in the night. The team had a day off Sunday and would begin the camp Monday.

Coach Jose Brasa, in the team bus, had declared Prabhjot as captain and also decided to appoint four players –Adrian D’souza, Deepak Thakur, Arjun Halappa and Rajpal as his deputies.

Selectors have always made it clear their job is to select the team and it is for HI to name the captain.

HI did not go along with Brasa Sunday when it came to know that the Spaniard had named Prabhjot, who was at the forefront of player’s revolt in Pune, as the captain and also chosen the four vice captains.

One of the players not wanting to be named said it is not the right way to go about the appointment of captain for a major event like the World Cup and these things could have been sorted out well before the announcement of the decision of the team.
He said that Prabhjot is not a junior player and has been around for close to a decade and if he feels he has been insulted he is justified.

“There have been changes in the team since Brasa took over. There were changes in the captaincy and in some tournaments even multiple captains were selected. Why then now HI does not want to go by Brasa’s decision,” a source in the team said.