Finally, some action
By Sandeep Narayan in New Delhi
Senior team prepares for Tests against Argentina and 4- nation meet
NINE months of no hockey could drive a player to insanity’s edge.
The sticks start rusting, the mind stops thinking tactically, and frustration creeps in slowly but unknowingly.
It was in Santiago, Chile, where the India senior team last played a fullfledged tournament. The loss there was so immense, they haven’t played at another meet barring the Azlan Shah tournament, where the socalled senior team consisted mainly of juniors.
“ That was our first priority. To make sure that the players were not low on confidence or self belief. When you haven’t played for so many days it’s easy to get frustrated,” chief coach Harendra Singh told M AIL T ODAY from Bhopal.
It’s been two months since he’s taken charge of the team and in this time has held two camps: one in Bangalore and the one currently on at Bhopal’s SAI centre.
“ It’s been a long, long camp and the boys are happy they will finally get to play in tournaments. We held trials on Wednesday and we will hold another round on Thursday and the final team will be picked in a couple of days,” Harendra added.
The final team will then play in the fourmatch Test series in Argentina next month followed by the four- nation tournament in Punjab.
“ The players look in good shape to me but camps can never be compared to actual tournaments, and frankly, only after we play against some good teams can we know where we stand.” Many players who have been included in the list of 42 probables had been outcast during the KPS Gill regime and Harendra said if any senior player can prove his fitness he won’t have difficulty in returning to the side.
“ Many players like Sandeep Singh and Deepak Thakur were ignored by the last establishment because of reasons not concerning the game. However, this time I don’t see anything stopping them from making the team. All they have to do is prove their fitness and that they are ready for international competition.” While he didn’t confirm if the core group of players present in Chile will be retained, he did say it won’t be a surprise if many are.
“ The selectors wanted a team of 18 players but I am proposing that 22 be chosen.
Many of the guys have not played for so a long and I was hoping that they get some crucial match practice,” Harendra informed.
Olympian Ramandeep Singh has also joined the team as coach and Harendra says that his involvement has been a great boost for the team as he is close to many players.
Three of the five selectors – Ajit Pal Singh, Aslam Sher Khan and Dhanraj Pillay — have attended one of the trials and Ashok Kumar is said to be joining them on Wednesday. Zafar Iqbal, the fifth selector, is in the United States.
While the IOA insists that they will get a foreign coach for the senior team in the coming days, Harendra seems unperturbed by such developments.
“ I have been given this assignment and I will concentrate on that. As far as the new coach is concerned I have no problems in a foreign expert coming to help India,” Harendra said.
Courtesy: Sandeep Narayan in Mail