K. ARUMUGAM & ERROL D’CRUZ

Former India head coach Vasudevan Baskaran believes that the 16-strong men’s hockey squad to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics announced on Friday meets modern demands of strength and power. He, however, queries the absence of two forwards in the squad – Akashdeep Singh and S.V. Sunil, players with good ball carrying skills and a wealth of experience.

“I considered their presence in the squad as a given – something like there can’t be a Portugal football side without Cristiano Ronaldo or an Argentina outfit without Messi!”

“As a coach and player, I understand the true meaning of the word ‘feared forwards’. Any successful team should have ‘feared forwards’ in its ranks. This is a must. If so, half the job is done. Akashdeep and Sunil of course have earned such labels.  Their presence in the team would mean much”.

As the master coach enumerate his views on the Indian men’s team for Tokyo, one is reminded of the feared forwardline that he had built up in his tenures especially for the Sydney Olympic challenge, by far the best Indian show at Olympics after 1984. India missed the semifinal berth by a whisker at the Australian city.

India’s Sydney Olympics coach Baskaran.                                                                                          Circa: 1995

But Baskaran is well aware that ground reality brings its own set of equations and appreciates the fact that selection of an Olympic squad means juggling with a lot of variables and constraints.

“Coach Graham Reid must have good reason to select the players he did. Maybe injuries may have played a part in the duo failing to find places in the squad or perhaps a broader game plan by the Australian who I firmly believe is the best judge of the situation.

“Moreover, matches against Germany and Great Britain in Europe earlier this year (and the FIH Pro League encounters against Argentina) may have provided inputs for the difficult task of selecting the squad,” Baskaran reasons.

“India has scores of skillful players as in cricket and selecting a team becomes a challenge causing one to make close calls – something I experienced when I was the coach of the national squad.

“I haven’t seen the youngster Shamsher Singh play but Dilpreet Singh and Gurjant Singh are meritorious inclusions. Mandeep has been around for quite some time and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay will bring a load of experience into the attack.

Indian men’s team for Tokyo Olympics: First row (l-r) Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad,Sumit, Harmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Dilpreet Singh. Back row: (l-r): Gurjant Singh, Birendra Lakra, PR Sreejesh, Mandeep Singh, Amit Rohidoss, Surender Kumar, Rupinderpal and Lalit Upadhyay.  

“I still think the team looks good and balanced and appears to have the right mix of youthful aggression and experience.

He was also quick to add about one or two players who would not have got selected but for perhaps some mathematical application of physical fitness regimen. The team should not have players who lose possession and cannot carry it for reasonable distance upfront. Without taking names, he points out that in the past one or two players in the team would not have got even 7,8 in a scale of 10.

“However, I find one among the half a dozen youngsters in the Tokyo bound team who can score 10 out of 10 is Vivek Sagar Prasad”.

“Because, he is a complete player”.   

“The defence is sound what with the presence of Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinderpal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas and Birendra Lakra.

“Harmanpreet, Rupinderpal  and Rohidas double up as drag-flickers and that crucial aspect of the game seems to be in good hands,” says Baskaran, a gold medallist at the 1980 Moscow Olympics where he was left-half and captain.

“Sreejesh is an automatic choice in goal and understandably the only goalkeeper in a crunched squad of 16 for the Olympics unlike the World Cup and Commonwealth Games where a squad of 18 is accepted,” Baskaran, 70, concurs.

The former Railways and Tamil Nadu stalwart has no queries about the midfield where captain Manpreet Singh has a clutch of youngsters for company that includes Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma and Sumit – players who conform to the role of moving backward and forward with a high work rate.

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