‘Poor finishing is letting team down’

Recovering from a chronic ankle injury that has kept him out of action for almost a year, Dilip Tirkey is closely watching India’s campaign on television back home in Bhubaneswar. And the former Indian skipper says he is disappointed to see India lose matches they should have won.

“The biggest error that I see the team commit, again and again, is the loose marking inside the circle. Most of the goals scored against us have been gifts. This is not acceptable at the highest level,” he said on Sunday. Tirkey feels that “poor finishing is letting the team down”, adding that at the same time, the defence was being caught unawares. “The Indian defence is being broken past time and again mainly due to the inability to mark the opponent tightly. It is great to see the players play attacking hockey, but at the same time, we need to understand that going all out on the attack means that the defence is often left open, and the players have to fall back quickly to negate any counter attack, which we are unable to do,” he said. Dilip also said that while the others may not have much experience, Sandeep Singh had played enough to not let soft balls in. “I am actually surprised by Sandeep’s inability to score; he was supposed to be our best, so his penalty corners not working has affected the team,” he said.