Indian Express: Asian Games 2018: Sardar Singh’s one indulgence… broccolli-stuffed parantha

Mihir Vasavda

After four months of two hours gym followed by sprints in the pool and a strict diet, Sardar Singh’s yo-yo test result touched a personal best of 21. 4… Kohli’s is 19.

“Darr gaya tha jab team se nikaal dia. Aisa laga sab kuch khatam… paisa, gaadi ka kya faayda agar hockey nahi chalegi. Bus tab soch liya, itni mehnat karoonga ki koi nahi kahega Sardar fit nahi hai…Sardar fast nahi hai.” (I was scared when I was dropped. I felt everything was over … what’s the use of money, cars without hockey. That’s when I decided, that I will work so hard that no one can tell me that ‘Sardar isn’t fit, Sardar isn’t fast’.)

Sardar Singh steps off the treadmill and heads straight for the bench press, stopping briefly for a few sips of water in between. The 32-year-old has followed this routine for a major part of the last four months. In fact, he didn’t even step on the hockey turf for an entire month. This, the obsessive workout, was to end the jibes directed at him.

It’s a stroke of luck — backed on team’s misfortune — that he finds himself back in the team, ready to defend the crown he led the team to four years ago in Incheon. Sjoerd Marijne, the Dutch coach who had dropped him from the squad for being ‘too slow’, was sent back to the women’s team after a dismal CWG. His successor, Harender Singh had other ideas.

The moment the coach swap happened, it was clear the squad’s most experienced player would be recalled. But Sardar never wanted to return just on reputation. “I had decided if I get one more chance, no one should ever say ‘Sardar fit nahi hai…’”

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Sardar’s inclusion, just like his omission, has been the biggest point of debate in Indian hockey. When Marijne axed him last October, it was seen as a massive shift in selection policy — from relying on old, experienced players Marijne wanted to blood young players. Some criticised him for making too many changes too soon, thus spoiling the team’s balance.

But Marijne was never in doubt. Sardar recalls a meeting with the then coach soon after India won the Asia Cup last year. “He said, ‘I’ve seen your performance in the tournament and I want to try new, young players’. It was a short, to-the-point meeting,” Sardar says. Sardar ignored Marijne’s message. Maybe, he just wasn’t ready to accept that the team, which relied so heavily on him for a decade, was ready to move on.

The ground reality was very different. Speed — or the lack of it — was just one of the issues. The errors that had crept into his game got more glaring with every passing tournament. As a centre-half, his passing percentage was dropping and the times he was getting dispossessed was increasing. The coaches, and even fans, were losing patience. This was more because of the fact that Manpreet Singh, Sardar’s understudy, had cemented his position as the team’s first-choice centre-half. Besides, Manpreet, there was also Vivek Sagar Prasad, who was touted as the future centre-half.

Sardar didn’t even see the writing on the wall even when he was left out of the squad for the World League Finals last December in Bhubaneswar – a dress rehearsal for this year’s World Cup. “I remained hopeful. I didn’t think there was any problem with my game,” he says. But the sucker punch came in March, when was dropped not just from the Commonwealth Games squad, but also from the core group.

For the first time in his career, the national team doors were firmly shut on him. It wouldn’t have been as embarrassing had he picked on the signals (sometimes not so subtle) over the last 12 months. As a young Indian team took off for Gold Coast, the career of its most experienced, talismanic midfielder had crash-landed. Sardar packed his three suitcases and two kitbags and left the national camp in Bangalore. “For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to do or where to go,” he says. “I was a mess.”

This, coupled with the accusations of harrassment by her ex-fiancé, pushed him to a dark place mentally, which reflected on everything he did. He preferred being alone and barely spoke to anyone outside the training field. It wasn’t depression, he insists. “But I wasn’t happy either. Koi kitna bhi strong ho, all these things affect.”

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Sardar wanted to move away from the ‘mess.’ He had offers to play for clubs in Spain and Holland, but he ignored them. “There’s a difference when you go abroad as an India player and an India discard. People treat you differently when you are out of the national team,” he says.

Instead, he went to Chandigarh. Sardar had recently bought a house in one of the quieter sectors of the city, so he could spend time with his nephews — sons of his elder brother Didar, a hockey player himself. That, to him, seemed like a good place to introspect and begin all over again. He thought of completing his police training and joining the force, but lacked motivation.

“Everything felt worthless. Look at Messi. He has all the money in the world but roams around in a simple t-shirt. Koi showbaazi nahi. Sirf football,” Sardar says. “So I decided to do the same. I stopped caring what was happening around me. I stopped thinking about what was happening at home. Paisa, gaadi… koi distraction nahi. Sirf fitness. Sirf hockey.”

Sardar says he worked out like a ‘maniac’. On some days, he spent two hours at gym and followed it up with an equally long swimming session. He didn’t open his kitbag even once and did not step on the hockey turf for one full month. He wanted to strengthen his core and worked on his legs, wrists, forearms, chest, thighs and calves. Five sets, 10-15 repetitions each followed by a sprint in the pool.

“I looked at what Bolt did for speed, tried to follow what other top athletes do for strength. You just pick and learn,” he says. “If I craved for paranthas, I stuffed broccoli in it instead of potatoes. But I haven’t taken the liberty of eating such things a lot.”

One glance is enough to realize the amount of time Sardar has spent in the gym. He has a chiseled body and claims this is the fittest he has ever been. Last week, he recorded a 21.4 in the yo-yo test, surpassing his previous best of 21.3 just before the Rio Olympics (to put it in perspective, Virat Kohli’s yo-yo test score is 19 – which is also the benchmark set for English and Australian cricketers).

Within the team, the best players record scores of 22-23, while the lowest is 19. “These results give us an idea as to how much workload we can put on one player,” Harender says. “But to be honest, speed was never Sardar’s style. He is all about the touches and vision.”

But that, too, had become suspect.

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“I learnt a lot about myself and my game by staying out for one month than the 10 years I’ve spent with the team. You can say I was in denial, but you also need to understand that when you are in the bubble, you don’t realize what’s going on.”

Being out for the first time in a decade gave Sardar some time to reflect on his game. There were issues, “but it wasn’t anything major,” he stresses. One of the problems was adjusting his style as per the requirements of different coaches. “Earlier, I wasn’t worried if someone stole the ball from me. I played freely. As systems changed, they (coaches) tell you the areas on the field you are allowed to dodge, where to pass… natural hockey kam hogayi,” Sardar says.

When he saw the team play at the Commonwealth Games on television, Sardar realized the coaches weren’t entirely wrong about losing possession in the midfield. “You are surrounded by opponents from all sides so if you lose the ball, they can attack with a lot of speed. Turnovers in the centre shouldn’t be easy and if you see the Champions Trophy, that has reduced,” he says.

Sardar gets a lot more animated when the conversation veers towards hockey. He makes an imaginary field with his hands and with furious movements, illustrates positions of the players. “Earlier I had Gurbaj on the right and I knew if I played the ball in an empty space, he would read it,” he says.

He tried the same with the new players. But they weren’t used to such passes and, more often than not, Sardar’s passes ended up either with the opposition, or out of play. “I realised the new players in the team weren’t doing anything wrong, we just hadn’t developed that level of understanding. So now, I just give the ball on their stick. Simple hockey. Trap the ball, pass it on the stick.”

His return has also helped India fill the hole in the midfield when Manpreet is not on the field. At the CWG, the lack of quality in the centre of midfield was glaring when Manpreet was taken off — the ball distribution was poor and very few moves were created through the centre. With Sardar back, Harender has the luxury of having at least one quality centre-half on the field at all times. “Also, I can make Manpreet play a little forward so he can support the attack. It brings a lot of balance to the team,” Harender says.

In terms of quality, Asian Games might not be the truest test for Sardar. Yet, the pressure of winning gold is overwhelming. India are by far the strongest side in Asia but they also have a dubious distinction of folding up under pressure. “Now we don’t want to merely participate. We’ve had enough of it. Now, we have to target medals,” he says, reflecting the team’s sentiment.

A gold in Jakarta will ensure qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. Sardar is non-committal when asked if he wants to hang around for another two years. But he is certain about one thing. “No one can remove me by saying Sardar fit nahi hai… fast nahi hai.”