New Indian Express: Field Goal Rule Excites Playmakers

By Arjun Halappa

At the outset, I wish to inform readers that though I set out to give perspectives of Coal India Hockey India League from the sidelines, I have joined the action! Now I am a cog in the wheel of sunrise team Ranchi Rays.

Ranchi Rays’ mainstay Birendra Lakra is injured, and I was invited to fill the vacuum. Like me, Birendra too was a forward in his formative days, before blossoming into what he is today, an authoritative all-rounder. Perhaps, that’s why I am preferred now. For a player, such a call of duty is always welcome. I would therefore request all players to keep fit, and be battle ready all the time.

I wish Birendra — winner of Hockey India’s first-ever annual Best Player award (a glittering trophy and Rs 25 lakh) last year around the same time — a speedy recovery. He is one of our best hopes for the Rio Olympics.

I enjoyed the previous season with Dabang Mumbai. Now, I experience the same fervour, same festive atmosphere, but with added excitement. Awarding double goal for field goals excites playmakers like me. With open games now in play with unimaginable speed, we go for long pushes and hits to open up rival territory. This thrills.

The other day, Dharamvir Singh struck a field goal in a scramble ahead of the normal instinct of searching foot for getting a penalty corner. Amir Khan replied in similar fashion. He went for the first shot. Again, no interest in the foot but straightway a snap goal. Many such first attempts were blocked in the course of a great contest which we won, but also I happily saw the future trend of hockey emerging here, what with the coming of Hockey 5s etc.

This electrifies. There will be more such thunder inside the circle when we meet Delhi Waveriders at their home.

We are at the top of the table. It’s comfortable, but there is no guarantee we will be there till the last match of the unpredictable Coal India Hockey India League 2016, until all league matches have been completed. The hosts are not far off from catching up with teams at the top. They will exert more, while we won’t relax. This is the mood of my teammates as well.

I know Delhi Waveriders’ Coach Cedric D’Souza has a shrewd hockey brain, his mind weaves cobwebs of controlled hockey. Whereas another Indian coach in our side, Harendra Singh, is known for direct hockey. It will be interesting as we will play out on the turf what these two great coaches of our times chalk out in the boardroom. I am expecting a strategically sensitive, explosive contest at the Shivaji Stadium.