Next Stop, Asia’s CT, but many heart stops for stars
Earlier this year, when Arjun Halappa was listed in the standbye players list, he rued, “This is an insult. Putting a mainstream player in standbye list is not how you treat players who have given so much for the country.”
If that argument is applied in recent context — Hockey India just announced the team for the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy in Doha, Qatar — it points to something disastrous (for a few players): Career for Shivendra Singh and Sandeep Singh on testing times.
Tushar Khandker and Bharat Chetri don’t feature even in the stand-bye at all. There are no prizes for guessing what lies for them next.
So, if Hockey pundits’ predictions about major come-backs in the team were to be believed, it had to come out true now,for the Asian Champions Trophy.
And now that it hasn’t happened – the team being announced – it looks like it was meant to be this way. The statistics shows the trend and the recent match results provide the defending justification for the people in-charge.
While Sreejesh makes a comeback after nursing an injury, Chetri doesn’t.
Interestingly, when Halappa was dropped from the team, Chetri remarked, “They (Rajpal and Halappa) are more than capable to stage a come-back.”
It hasn’t happened till date.
The simple fact is that players dropped for poor show in top-notch tournaments or on old -age premises only make an entry into the history.
What makes it further complex for all these players is the spiked up performance by the Indian team, Down Under.
Few may downplay India’s performance in the ongoing Champions Trophy were not against a full-strength opponent. But by losing a close-call match against Germany and then beating Belgium in quarter-finals, critics’ claim doesn’t hold water.
Following India’s win against the last Quarter final match, Michael Nobbs was in all-praise for the defenders, Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh.
With two specialist drag-flickers offering a stiff wall in defense and the team getting the desired result, Sandeep Singh will have to be extremely lucky to make an entry in the deep-defense.
Further,all forwards, the young Nithin Thimmaiah, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Yuvraj Walmiki, Danish Mujtaba, KS Uthappa, SV Sunil, Dharamvir Singh and Akashdeep performing from above average to fitting to the find-of-the-tournament lables, there is little chance of Shivendra making it to the final-18 in the run-up to the Asian Champions Trophy.
Notably, even if there is an empty slot (due to an injury) in the forward line, he will be competing with other standbys — Chinglensana, Sommanna and Thimmanna – all much younger to him.
Statistics-wise, Indian team’s average age in London Olympics was 24.6 years. Six players were above this number: Ignace (31), Sandeep(26), Chetri(30), Sardar(26), Tushar(27) and Shivendra(29).
Came Super Series Hockey 9s in Australia and apart from Sardara, none of the above could make the final cut. And for the players below 24 years, only missing face is that of Gurbaj Singh.
The team’s average age came down to 22.5 years, and apart from a minor goalkeeper shuffle, the team roaster remains undisturbed for these three tournaments.
So, will we ever get to see charmers of the likes of Shivendra, Tushar, Chetri and Sandeep?
Well, during one of the post-match briefings at the London Olympics, Nobbs told that he has asked the Indian players,“Are you up for the challenge, or are you all only happy getting the Olympian tag?’’
Against the backdrop of such view of a coach, who knows what he says, it feels that may be, and just may be, the players who aren’t around anymore had something to do with these musings of the coach.