Chennai Cheetahs bank on experience

James Hardy, TNN

CHENNAI: For Chennai Cheetahs experience is the key. Just glance at the coach and the captain.

Former India coach Jose Brasa has enough experience and honours (two Sultan Azlan Shah titles, 2010 CWG silver medal and 2010 Asian Games bronze medal) with the national team that adding his own brand of Spanish flair to the fledgling outfit for the World Series Hockey, will be but child’s play.

Add to the mix a 35-year-old Australian veteran who once (after being dropped from the national squad for the Beijing Olympics) famously vowed to continue playing to prove his detractors wrong. Brent Livermore still has that fire in his eyes and together with Brasa they make a potent cocktail to intoxicate the Chennai team.

Not that Livermore is shy about it. “We are a strong team with the right blend and we have the right people to carry us all the way,” he said at the presentation of the team on Friday.

Brasa was equally enthusiastic. “I think this championship has the scope to develop into something big. India has the talent. I am happy with the composition of the Chennai team and we have had the opportunity to have a few training sessions already. I am sure that
Chennai Cheetahs will have the best wishes of the hockey-loving public of the state.”

The entire team will get together on February 27 in Jalandhar and they will play their first game on March 1. A short time to get used to the new ideas and combinations but Brasa assured that it was possible.

“Most of the players know each other even if they have not played together before. As such they know each other’s game. That is not the
problem,” he said.

The main concern is the fitness issue. Playing 14-odd games in a space of 30 days is no joke and that is one of the reasons why they have gone for 27 players in their squad. “We have to keep all the players fresh and rotate them in such a way that we get the best out of everyone,” Brasa said.

This is where the experience of the older players like Livermore, Adam Sinclair etc will come in handy. “We have to act as mentors to the younger ones advising them on health, fitness, nutrition etc, which all play a very important role. Particularly in such a scenario as the WSH,” Livermore said.