Are the Cheetahs chasing a mirage?
S. Thyagarajan
Is the game over for Chennai Cheetahs? A realistic assessment of form, facts and figures affirms it.
But Jose Brasa and Brent Livermore are convinced that their team is in the reckoning for a semifinal berth in the World Hockey Series competition.
Their hope of rolling back into the route for the last four stems from the possibility gaining an outright win in the next two matches — against Delhi Wizards on Wednesday and against Mumbai Marines in Mumbai on Friday.
This is feasible if Chennai can garner full points with impressive margins.
But given the quality of its showing against Sher-E-Punjab and Chandigarh Comets in recent matches, one is apprehensive to envisage such an outcome, even granting the fact that the Delhi Wizards and Mumbai Marines are placed low in the table.
Chennai’s Achilles heel is defence. Whatever combination effected by the coach has failed to deliver. Shifting an acknowledged world class player like Brent Livermore as a sweeper from midfield has not paid dividends. Vinod Pillay appeared anything but secure in his tackles. Apart from striking a bag full of goals, Imran Warsi suffers from inadequate skills in the area of interception and tackles.
Goalkeeper Santosh gallantly smothered a bit of pressure against Punjab and Chandigarh but beyond a point it became too much for him to handle.
Minus Vikram Pillay and Vikas Sharma, the mid-field showed no signs of harmony. Even the frontline, save for a few brilliant attempts by Adam Sinclair, was more individualistic than projecting display of alignment to break the rival phalanx. Close man-to-man marking method by Sher-E-Punjab stumped the Cheetahs and so was the exemplary work in the defence of penalty corners by Comets.
True, two victories in succession will take Chennai’s tally to 22 points out of the 14 matches to complete the league programme. But Delhi Wizards and Pune Strykers are similarly placed while Bhopal Badshahs is marginally ahead.
Sher-E-Punjab and Chandigarh Comets look firmly in the saddle at the moment.
The competition enters the decisive phase from today. What is eventually in store will remain in suspense till March 30.