Gurgaon: Organisers overlook Dhyanchand’s death anniversary as BPCL dish out ordinary fare to defeat IOC 2-0 and lift Shastri Hockey title

On the death anniversary of Major Dhyanchand, it was perhaps fitting that the final of the Shastri hockey tournament at the Nehru Stadium in Gurgaon was played between the two best teams in the fray. Unfortunately, the fare dished out by the two teams can hardly be called a fitting tribute to the legend.

Though it was tragic that a tournament that prides itself on its history completely ignored — or forgot, more likely — the fact that it was the death anniversary of the biggest legend in the game ever, the hockey played out in the middle by Indian Oil (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) made it worse. And if one considers the fact that everyone in the IOC squad has played for India at some point — as also almost half of the BPCL line-up — it was definitely not what was expected.

For the record, BPCL won the tournament 2-0. Right from the word go, it was evident that BPCL were a more cohesive unit. The team have players who have been playing together for quite a few seasons now, and the comfort level showed. The strike force of Amar Aiyamma, Hari Prasad and Tushar Khandker gelled well and made repeated forays into the opposition box, but was thwarted by IOC goalkeeper Baljit Singh repeatedly.

In fact, he was the lone bright spot for IOC. In fact, even with the likes of Prabhjot Singh, Rajpal Singh and Deepak Thakur in their ranks, IOC never even came close to scoring throughout the 70 minutes.

In the second half, the players seemed to simply go through the motions rather than mount any serious challenge. They earned the only penalty corner of the match in the last minute, and that too went waste.

Missing sitters
On the other hand, BPCL could have won by a bigger margin had they not messed up a few simple sitters. But they were undoubtedly the better team. Their first real chance came in the 17th minute, when Aiyamma sent the ball from the left to Hari Prasad in front of an open goal, who only had to tap it in, with all of the IOC defence missing.

A minute later, veteran Sabu Varkey made a brilliant dash down the right flank and brilliantly centred the ball, but Khandker’s shot went just wide of the posts. In fact, though Aiyamma was named the best player of the tournament, it was Sabu who made all the difference. Playing playmaker to perfection, he was everywhere, feeding the forwards, and tirelessly working the flanks. At the back, captain Ajay Saroha and SS Gill and goalkeeper Swinder Singh made sure the defence was not leaky.

Courtesy: Uthra Ganesan, Indian Express