World Cup Players Report Card

1 Gurbaj Singh:
Undoubtedly the hero of Indian campaign, maintained a high degree of consistency against all teams, though outstanding against Pakistan and England. What a defence spiliting crosses, what a cool head, what a hard pushes. Great job in a major tournament.
Excellent to Outstanding

2 Shivendra Singh:
Was brilliant all through, Indian scoring depended on him solely as every other star failed. His role was felt when he was not there for two crucial matches. After scoring every goal, he saluted the crowd, its time now we should salute him.

Excellent

3 Arjun Halappa:
Delhi was best of his three World Cups. As an attacking midfielder, he created goal scoring chances more than anyone else in the team.

Excellent

4 Sardar Singh:
Untiring, could manage consistency in most matches.

Very good

5 Tushar Khandkar:
Was asked to play in an unfamiliar position in midfield, and as the tournament wore on came into the attacking mode as well.

Good to very good

6 Vikram Pillay:
He showed some inspired performance in defence and attack. Fared better than Monchengladbach.

Very good

7 Bharat Chikkara:
Gave excellent performance in first two matches before fading into ordinary, considering he is an out and out forward, and had to play all important left-half position, his role demands some appreciation.

Good

8 Adrian D’Souza:
He was up against the best, but the Indian defence was ordinary. Was at his best against England, over all better display than all the top tournaments he played in so far. Though one can always say his personal best need not be the event’s.

Good

9 Diwakar Ram:
Unfortunately under-utilized player, taken into the team as after thought. Given minimum chances, still he scored a goal even the push was not stopped properly.

Good

10 Sarwanjit Singh:
Despite under-rated and given minimum chances, he was not bad at the upfront.

Good

11 Sandeep Singh:
Can easily be branded villain of the campaign as he failed with penalty corners – its coach and captain’s job to choose who should take the penalty corner, therefore he cannot be blamed for the responsibility he was entrusted to — but at least in three matches showed semblance of solid defence. If compared with Sohail Abbas, he comes out better.

12. Dhananjay Mahadhik:
It is the first tournament anyone had a chance to see the new comer playing. Got maximum chance, was inconsistent. Performance dipped steadily after first two matches.

Note: Other five players (Prabhjot Singh, Rajpal Singh, Gurwinder Chandi, PR Sreejesh, Deepak Thakur) do not merit any analysis or ranking. Danish Mujataba is excluded as he was hardly given any chance to play.