‘You can protect a lead. Its modern hockey. Its a game of seventy minutes”. Said, Graham Reid, Indian men’s national team’s chief coach, 24 hours ago, on asked about India conceding goals goals to New Zealand in the Tokyo Opener.
His words will come into severe test today when the biggest of challenge in Pool B — match against Australia – await the Indians.
Indian men have to beat history today to get past the Australian hurdle – and thus make their own history.
Those were the days — even on turf era — both were not frequently meeting, and the Indians were looking at them with awe.
This prompted Ric Charlesworth to write in his Magnus Opus: ‘There are two generations of Australian hockey players: One generation that never beat India and the other never lost to India!’
Early last year, Indians proved they can beat the Aussies, a nation that used to beat them lock, stock and barrel on the synthetic grass era. The opening phase of second FIH Proleague is an eye opener for Indian hockey fans.
The present team at Tokyo would not simply care. They have already tasted a victory in a difficult situation, in a strange Olympics. Indian team at Tokyo has as many as 11 players who are first timers to Olympics and will be experiencing as big as this event without single spectator on ground.
No way they will succumb to stands and it what it stands for – adding pressure.
However they were all part of the FIH Pro-League in which India took them on. The first match on 21st Feb at Bhubaneswar was a close affair (3-4 ifo the visitors) but the hero of the match was hitherto unknown Raj Kumar Pal. The young lad struck a brace and leaving another and the last of India goal to Rupinder Pal Singh.
The repeat match was all the more interesting. Aussie could not win. Not only that India was leading the Aussies for about 20 minutes till Aran Zaleswki equalized in the 46th minute. Tried as they could, but India did not bulge, leaving the turf heads held high with a 2-2 score.
The first match was victory for an youngster whom David John believed. Now, his choices such as Gursahib Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh are not in the team, but others like Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Shamsher Singh — who definitely impressed in the opener — Sumit are such kind of players who are all truly all rounders.
Crisp overhead passes of Shamsher Singh, Sumit’s ability to omnipresent, Dilpreet Singh’s ability to send crosses from the right, all were there in the first match, which titled the scale infavour us in the opener. The win over the Kiwis is a morale booster for India. It has clearly established that PR Sreejesh can be Mr. Saviour of India.
However, opener for the today’s Indian rival was not a smooth affair. The Japanese definitely have clearly sent a message- We can puncture the Aussie’s jaggarnaut why not you derail them.
Remember, Australia was not the semifinalist at Rio. They do not present an invincible image any more. They are also brittle and vulnerable. Even in good times they are not good at penalty corner conversion. India should see their rival in this perspective.
Therefore, what should count today is how one team perceives the other, which team is mentally strong and strategically superior.
Having selected an young team, India’s hopes are now on these young guns.