Hyderabad: It is beyond doubt that Diwakar Ram is the fulcrum of the Indian junior hockey team and is on the threshold of becoming the mainstay of the senior side. And if India hope to retain the Men’s Junior Asia Cup, to be held here from July 11, a lot depends on Ram and his fellow defender VR Raghunath.

With impressive performances at the eight-nation tournament and the Azlan Shah Cup, both in Kuala Lumpur, Ram is fast emerging as the promising dragflicker, and his coach AK Bansal believes that the 18-year old Uttar Pradesh lad can comfortably step into the shoes of Dilip Tirkey.

Bansal, who guided India to an impressive second place finish in Azlan Shah, feels that Dilip Tirkey is past his prime and that Ram and Sandeep Singh are his worthy replacements.

“Dilip had done a great job for the country. But the time has come to search for his replacements. Ram and Sandeep have done exceedingly well in the last few months. I think they should be given more chances and we should soon start rebuilding a newlook outfit,” Bansal said.

Ram, who was introduced into the game by his father six years ago, is confident at handling pressure in big match situations. “I started playing international matches only a year back. Fortunately, I did well in Monchengladbach, the eight-nation tourney and the Azlan Shah,” said Ram, who converted 12 penalty corners in the eight-nationa event and four from the limited opportunities he got at the Azlan Shah Cup.

Bansal said he could not give enough chances for Ram at the Azlan Shah as Sandeep was doing very well. “That made it difficult for me to give more chances to Ram. But he performed brilliantly on the few chances he got. He is a bright prospect. He is too young but is mentally tough,” Bansal said.

A big fan of Jugraj Singh and Sohail Abbas, Ram knows he needs to put in a lot of hard work to succeed at the senior level. “Jugraj helped me a lot when I met him at a junior camp in Gurgaon last year. He also told me only hard work pays. I know it is not easy to succeed at the senior level but I am confident of doing well,” said Ram, who thinks that self belief is an important trait of successful players.

“If Sohail Abbas was so successful, it’s only because he had faith in his talent. I want to be like that, but it is very difficult. Mental toughness is one aspect I have to work on,” said Ram.

According to Ram no team is can be termed as favourites in this tournament. “It is very difficult to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a team at the junior level as competitions are very few at this level,” he said.