India should have been extraordinarily cautious when they took on the Olympic Champions Australia, but they were not. I find a casual approach in them in the important tie rather than a professional outlook. Our 1-4 defeat does not surprise me, but the manner we made our rivals go merry is. Four goals in 20 minutes is something you don’t do when you play at home under the conditions that favour you. Indians were inexplicably shaky.

It’s a disappointing performance. I won’t just blame only the goalkeeper but the whole defence. Perhaps the early goal unsettled them. Our number one goalkeeper Adrian is off colour. His anticipation is not good, at least he could have stopped two goals. The fact that no goals were given away once he was substituted vouchsafes for this view. When a forward is with the ball at top of circle and he is narrowing down the angle, Adrian need not have charged. He should have been committed at his place and anticipated a close range shot. But he was not, and he needs lot of counseling and pep talk. I hope he will bounce back to regain his original form.

The real culprit for the disaster, to me, is the defence. I noticed with dismay our defenders are not even bending properly to bounce on a deflection or chase a close ball. Australia scored their first goal when the ball deflected from one of our defenders. Our man should have followed it, but Australia’s Nathan Eglington was quicker and sharper to post the goal within 30 seconds from the start of the match. When a goalkeeper charges, one of our defenders should be backing him up. This simple thing was absent on Tuesday against the Aussies.

We were certainly casual and this is bad for Indian hockey.

Australians were attacking all the time. We should have countered it by reinforcing our attack. It did not happen. Instead, our forwards fell back. Falling back is fine, but what is the use if you cannot defend properly. This way our forwards neither attacked nor helped organization of defence. Don’t fall back just for the sake of it.

I expected a lot from Gagan Ajit, but he impressed none. He has more in him which is not coming out. He is captain of the Champions Trophy team that is held on our soils. He should know the significance, and improve his attacking skills. A struggling captain never inspire his team.

Midfield is not seen at all. They are walking. They should not have allowed opponents easily switching balls on both wings so easily. Australians got more than expected elbow room because of disorganized midfield. Australia did not go for full pledged attack in the second half, content in keeping ball possession in their half. This bored the spectators, but saved India from bigger defeat.

I don’t write off India. They can bounce back provided if they improve their game sense. Still six more points are there for us to grab.