Another fan was traveling to Bhubaneswar with his wife and nine-month-old child to watch India in the quarter-finals of the World Cup when India struggle and control New Zealand in the crossover match on Sunday sent shivers down the spine of the family.
“Welcome to Odisha…there is a lot to offer in Odisha beyond hockey“, read a tweet responding to the dismay of the family.
No matter what, #MenInBlue will always support us! 💙#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #HWC2023 #StarsBecomeLegends… https://t.co/B6o3ygijaX
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) 1674453229000
Fans were basically offering their shoulders to cry. India lost to New Zealand in sudden death (5-4), after leading twice by two goals, 2-0 and 3-1. After regulation time of 60 minutes, the scoreboard showed 3-3. The ensuing penalty shoot-out also ended 3-3, only because of PR Sreejesh’s back-to-back saves that brought India back from the dead. He also saved New Zealand’s first attempt in sudden death, injuring himself in the process. But it gave skipper Harmanpreet Singh a perfect setting to redeem his disastrous World Cup as a player.
If Harmanpreet had scored in sudden death, he would have lifted the spirits of the whole country. The fan above is said to have bought tickets and the young family traveling to watch the World Cup weren’t disappointed with their decision.
Image credit: Hockey India
But neither coach Graham Reid nor skipper Harmanpreet Singh spoke of the “responsibility” both had mentioned so emphatically in their speeches to the media before Sunday.
With the hindsight they now have, the management of the Indian team must answer these seven questions:
1. Why couldn’t he India protect a two-goal lead twice in the game?
India’s defense never looked organized in the first knockout game played at the World Cup. The New Zealanders found an easy passage in the Indian circle, especially in the last quarter, when the defenders were spotted waiting for the Kiwi attackers inside the circle, when they should have tackled them at the outside of the D. It’s the same mistake India made in the 2018 Asian Games final against Malaysia. The team lost each time.
Photo PTI
2. Why did the Indian defense buckle under pressure in the last 16 minutes?
It’s not that India didn’t gain possession in the final quarter. But in most cases, when an Indian player got the ball back, it only took a New Zealand player a few seconds to get it back, either through an unforced foul or by forcing the Indian players to pass the ball to the haste when it would have been wiser. to stick with it, spray the ball and build an attack. It didn’t happen, maybe a mental block in a winning situation in the last few minutes. A similar approach almost cost India dearly in the bronze medal qualifier against Germany at the Tokyo Olympics.
3. Why were four youngsters asked to handle the penalty shootout pressure?
It was hard to fathom the decision when skipper Harmanpreet Singh led Rajkumar Pal, Sukhjeet Singh, Shamsher Singh and Abhishek as India’s picks for the penalty shootout. Of course, the team decides these things before the game, which means only coach Graham Reid can explain why highly experienced players like Manpreet Singh (318 games), Akashdeep Singh (222), Mandeep Singh (198) and Lalit Upadhyay (137) were not among the five when the team was on the verge of a World Cup exit.
4. Why is ‘creating chances’ becoming rhetoric in Indian hockey?
It’s not that India didn’t create chances or didn’t have enough shots on goal. The attacking style the team plays gives them enough chances to score, but the numbers around ‘circle penetrations’ don’t get a team anywhere unless the majority of them are converted into goals. The goalless draw in the pool game against England is a classic example in this context. If India had won this match, they would have topped the group and earned a direct spot in the quarter-finals.
5. Why was the team unable to find a solution to its Penalty Corner (PC) problems four matches in a row?
It has been one of the main talking points of India’s dismal campaign, especially since the game against England when the hosts earned eight penalty corners but were unable to convert any. In four matches so far in this World Cup, India have won 30 CP and scored just five. Saddest part is that only twice India’s direct drag flicks have found the mark, once against Wales when the visitors pulled off their goalkeeper which is also the pundit’s only goal. Harmanpreet drag-flick so far. And second when Varun Kumar rang the board against New Zealand. Harmanpreet’s misfortunes on the drag-flicks of this World Cup were such that he also missed a penalty shot against Spain.
Photo PTI
6. What exactly were Bram Lomans’ contributions to the camp organized for India’s penalty corner experts last December?
Ironically, Dutch drag-flick expert Bram Lomans was hired by Hockey India to lead a camp for Indian drag-flickers a month before the World Cup. What were the contributions of the Indian players during this week-long camp is another question that awaits an answer, especially as Harmanpreet completely faded during the tournament in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar.
7. Why didn’t the team reassess the fitness of Tokyo Olympics hero Simranjeet Singh before announcing the squad of 18, while Varun Kumar, who was dropped from the core group at the same time as Simranjeet, was recalled to the national camp before the selection team?
It’s again in hindsight, but Hardik Singh’s injury ruled him out after the pool game against England wouldn’t have affected India so much if the attacking midfielder and World Cup winner world junior Simranjeet Singh was in the 18 or among the two alternative players (standbys).
For fitness reasons, Simranjeet was dropped from the core group a few months before the World Cup. If he was unfit, it might have made even more sense to keep him in the base group and the national camp, which would have offered him the best chance of returning to full fitness before the World Cup, if the team management deemed him unfit. . But Simranjeet was denied that chance. However, Varun Kumar, who may have been punished for his mistakes at the Commonwealth Games, was reinstated in the core group.
Moreover, ignoring strikers Gurjant Singh and Dilpreet Singh were decisions that were also questioned during the announcement of India’s World Cup squad, which saw Lalit Upadhyay and playmaker Vivek Sagar Prasad previously injured make their comeback. Both have underperformed at this World Cup except for Lalit’s only decent outing against New Zealand.
